Jan. 15: Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury, the disgruntled Congress minister and the brother of the late A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury, has offered his services to the Trinamul Congress.
The open feeler comes at a time Mamata Banerjee is trying to break into the Congress stronghold of north Bengal where Malda has remained the citadel of the Khan Chowdhury family.
Abu Naser has sent a letter, along with his curriculum vitae, to Mamata. A week ago, his niece Shehnaz Quadery had joined the Trinamul Congress at Writers' Buildings and was made the party's general secretary.
The developments are a reflection of the fight within Kotwali, the Khan Chowdhury household, for the political legacy of Ghani Khan.
Mausam Noor, the young Congress MP and the niece of Ghani Khan, now holds the upper hand and has not shied away from taking on Mamata. In the Lok Sabha, Mausam represents Malda North, from where Abu Naser wanted to contest but could not because of a controversy over his citizenship.
Abu Naser, a minister of state for science and technology in the Trinamul-led government, held a media conference at his Kotwali residence this afternoon. "I have spoken to the Trinamul leadership a number of times. They wanted me to send them my bio-data and I have done my job," he said.
Asked if he would switch over to Trinamul, the Congress's Sujapur MLA said: "If the Trinamul Congress accepts me by giving me due political recognition, what is the harm in joining the Trinamul Congress?"
Asked if he was not getting respect in the Congress, an angry Abu Naser said: "I left my home in Switzerland as well as my Swiss citizenship to return to India in order to serve the Congress. I have no greed for money, nor do I want to ride in cars fitted with red beacons. However, I was not given the due recognition."
PCC president Pradip Bhattacharya said tonight that if Abu Naser switched over to Trinamul, he would come under anti-defection law and cease to be an MLA. "We have 42 MLAs in the Assembly. Once he joins Trinamul, we shall write to the Speaker to disqualify him," he said.
Speaker Biman Banerjee said Abu Naser would come under the anti-defection law once the Congress Legislature Party wrote to him that the MLA had joined Trinamul. "I will have to hear from the MLA concerned before disqualifying him as a member of the House," he added.
The Congress MLA also criticised the party central leadership for denying ministerial berths to the Khan Chowdhury family.
"My elder brother had won from the Malda Lok Sabha seat nine times in a row and the Khan Chowdhurys enjoy the support of the people. This is why I had protested when north Bengal did not get any berth in the Union minister. Kotwali deserved better and I lobbied hard to get my brother and South Malda MP, Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury, into the Union cabinet but I was not heeded. All these events make me feel that the Congress high command has been neglecting us," he said.
Abu Hashem, who is also the Malda district Congress president, said his brother was upset ever since a berth was denied to Kotwali at the Centre. "He also wanted to be either a Lok Sabha or a Rajya Sabha member so that he could work for the people. We will try to convince him to stay back, but I do not have any information that he is joining the Trinamul Congress," Abu Hashem said over phone from Delhi.
Abu Naser today openly said that he had taken Quadery to Mamata. "It is true that I took Shehnaz to Mamata in Calcutta,"
The state Congress leadership feels that if Abu Naser defects to Trinamul, it will not have much of an impact because of his lack of organisational clout. But a section of leaders feels that "some party ranks and leaders, particularly those in Malda, might be demoralised" because of Kotwali roots.
"We will have to bear it as a reality if Lebuda (as Congress leaders refer to Abu Naser) defects to Trinamul. Lebuda is not a mass-based politician like those who had already defected to Trinamul. This is why we are hurt but not demoralised," said a PCC general secretary.
"After all, Mausam is a more popular leader than Lebuda in Malda and she has established herself all across Bengal as the state Youth Congress chief," a PCC vice-president added.
During the 2011 Assembly polls, Mausam had secured the Mothabari seat for the Youth Congress district president, Sabina Yasmin. Abu Naser wanted the seat for Quadery, who contested as an Independent but lost to Yasmin.
"I have no information that he wants to join the Trinamul Congress," Mausam said of her uncle today. Mausam has been organising protests against alleged Trinamul attacks on Congress workers in Malda. Known Mamata-baiter Deepa Das Munshi was also seen beside Mausam on some occasions.
A Trinamul leader said the party had roped in Abu Naser through Sabitri Mitra, state minister and the party's Malda district president. "I took Naser Saheb to Mukulda (Trinamul leader Mukul Roy) who later briefed Mamata about his plan to switch over to our party," Mitra said.
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