Cong reticence frustrates Trinamul

MALDA, April 3: The local Trinamul leadership were in a tizzy today, over not being invited to accompany the North Malda Congress candidate, Miss Mausam Noor, when she filed her nomination papers today.

The Malda district Trinamul general secretary, Mr Arun Tarafdar, today alleged that according to an agreement with the Congress leadership, one Trinamul leader was scheduled to accompany Miss Noor during filing of nomination. “But the Congress leadership did not invite any of us,” he said. According to him, Miss Noor had agreed to bring out a joint rally with the Trinamul before filing nomination. “But her convoy did not stop before our party office adjacent to Station Road,” Mr Tarafdar added. The Trinamul leader later led partymen to join a Congress rally.

Reacting to the Trinamul leader's complaints, the Malda Congress general secretary, Mr Narendranath Tiwari, said: “Mr Tarafdar has the right to feel aggrieved but we could not take him in the room for submission of nomination paper as five persons were already in the room and the Election Commission forbids the presence of more than five persons. I too had to come out to accommodate another Congress leader Mr Asit Bose,” Mr Tiwari said.

The North Malda Congress candidate, Miss Noor, today tried her best to convince people that the family feud over candidacy with her maternal uncle Dr AN Khan Choudhury had been buried for good. “He is ill and in New Delhi which is why he could not accompany me today,” she claimed. Dr AN Choudhury, however, told media persons from New Delhi “I am suffering psychologically as someone has betrayed me. I am trying to recover. It is still undecided whether I would campaign for Miss Noor but I would surely campaign for my brother AH Khan Choudhury in South Malda.”

Following the tradition of late AB A Ghani Khan Choudhury, former Union minister and Malda MP, Miss Noor today offered prayer to Manaskamana Temple and went to places of worships for Muslims at Pir-a-na-pir and other places and came to Malda DM office. Mr AN Khan Choudhury would file his nomination paper on 8 April for the South Malda seat. Mr Sailen Sarkar and Dr. Abdur Razzaque, both CPI-M candidates, would file nomination papers on 7 April for the North and South Malda constituencies respectively. n SNS