Malda gears up to host Sonia and Buddha

Statesman News Service

MALDA, April 26: The Malda Congress is preparing for its final election campaign for Miss Mausam Noor in North Malda, with the Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi due to appear at a rally at Kandaran in Samsi tomorrow.

The district police administration has stepped up security covering the entire area of Samsi following the instruction of the special protection group (SPG). The top officials of the SPG have given specific guidelines to the Congress leaders, including the candidate for North Malda Miss Noor, and asked them to follow these guidelines at the rallies.

“We are facing difficulties in following the guidelines of the SPG to the point in our organisation of the programme for Mrs Sonia Gandhi here,” said Mr Masudur Rahman, chief election agent of Miss Noor and vice-president of the district Congress. Mrs Gandhi will be arriving here around 11.30 a.m. tomorrow, according to Congress leaders. District police have provided manpower for maintaining access control and to enforce anti-sabotage measures in Samsi.

The Congress will also organise another programme for the external affairs minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr AH Khan Choudhury at Kaliachak area in South Malda parliamentary constituency, to take place around four p.m. tomorrow. The CPI-M meanwhile, will also be organising a rally at Pakuahat in North Malda for party candidate Mr Sailen Sarkar tomorrow morning, which the chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will address.

Mr Bhattacharjee will be coming from Raiganj to Pakuahaat in the morning by road and will rest at the Old Circuit House in English Bazaar town. He will then leave for Kolkata by train. Besides the chief minister, another politburo member Mrs Brinda Karat will address four election rallies in Malda district.

According to the CPI-M party office, Mrs Brinda Karat will address a rally at Chanchal in North Malda around three p.m. on 27 April, and at Baishnabnagar in Kaliachak III under the South Malda parliamentary area at around six p.m. on the same day. On 28 April, her last day of campaigning, Mrs Karat will address a meeting at LIC More in English Bazaar town at 8.30 am in South Malda and another at Gazole in North Malda around one p.m. for Mr Sarkar. The district police face the difficult task of providing the large number of police personnel needed to ensure these rallies are peaceful and secure.