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Trinamool,
Cong work at cross-purposes in Malda
Ghani Khan
sticks to Englishbazar demand, Adhir Chowdhury props up his candidates
Subrata Nagchoudhury
Malda, April
27: Political manoeuvreings continued in Malda, a district of
West Bengal, till the deadline for withdrawal of nominations expired
at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Englishbazar
continues to be the lone seat in the state where alliance partners
Trinamool Congress and the Congress remain in the race against each
other. The indecision could split the anti-Left votes.
Though the fight between the allies was out in the open here, in
Murshidabad, Congress candidates remained in the race but cloaked
as Independents. Unhappy with the seat-sharing between the two parties,
Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury has propped up what he calls ‘‘winning
candidates’’.
The difference
between the two districts is that while Ghani Khan is clearly cut
up with Mamata Banerjee, Chowdhury said that all his actions would
strengthen her position.
The Malda stalemate
had showed signs of being resolved with the intervention of the
Congress high command and Mamata Banerjee. As many as six Trinamool
candidates, who had filed nominations against the Congress in retaliation
to its claim on Englishbazar, withdrew one after the other.
The news that
Congress would withdraw its nominee from Englishbazar as well spread
fast. But just when expectations of a last minute patch-up were
on the rise, Ghani Khan shot off again: ‘‘I care little
for the alliance. All I know is I’ll have to win the Englishbazar
seat in Malda.’’
Ghani Khan,
who said this before setting out for the day’s campaign, set
all speculations at rest when he decided not to withdraw Congress
nominee Gautam Chakravarty from Englishbazar.
He said he
had a ‘‘talk’’ with Sonia Gandhi on Thursday
morning, thus hinting of the high command’s approval for his
decision. He refused to elaborate, but said: ‘‘Soniaji
is coming to campaign in Malda.’’
When asked if Mamata will accompany Sonia, he shot back: ‘‘I
only know about Sonia’s tour programme. I don’t keep track
of Mamata’s schedule.’’
The Trinamool
candidate from the contentious seat, Krishnendu Chowdhury, who has
been quiet for so long let off his steam and accused Ghani Khan
of indirectly helping the CPI(M).
‘‘I’m
going to explode the myth that is Ghani Khan. If he is the last
word in Malda, why did he manage to just scrape through in the 1991
election with a margin of less than 2,000 votes. And in 1999, we
toiled hard to give him a narrow victory — of about 24,000
votes. Adhir Chowdhury in Murshidabad is a far more convincing winner,’’
Krishnendu Chowdhury said.
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