Singh and Abu Hasem

Malda, Aug. 14: Congress MP Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury today said he had told Manmohan Singh and the party high command that the Prime Minister was welcome to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Malda.

Abu Hasem said he had personally requested Singh to contest from the North Malda constituency. “Congress president Sonia Gandhi is aware of the request. If the Prime Minister contests from Malda, people here would not have to worry about development,” he added.

Singh is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Assam.

Asked whether the party wound approach Speaker Somnath Chatterjee if Singh refused, Abu Hasem said: “He is most welcome, but the decision rests with the Congress high command.”

The CPM had summarily expelled Chatterjee from the party on July 23 for his refusal to step down as Speaker before the trust vote in the Lok Sabha.

The Prime Minister will arrive in Malda either at the end of this month or in the first week of September to inaugurate a technology university funded by the Union government, said Abu Hasem.

The Congress MP spewed venom on PCC chief and Union minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi for “doing injustice” to the Khan Chowhurys. “Das Munshi has been constantly insulting us. He met the elected panchayat representatives of the Congress at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Calcutta on August 9. Although I was present there, I was not allowed to address the gathering, while many junior leaders spoke,” Abu Hasem said.

He added that the meeting included no condolence reference to his late sister and former district Congress president, Ruby Noor. “I felt so insulted that I left the meeting. She was no ordinary member. She was a sitting MLA, an AICC member and the district Congress president,” Abu Hasem said.

Without naming anyone, the MP said certain PCC leaders, who were trying to divide the Congress in Malda, had abstained from the condolence meeting of Ruby Noor organised by the district Congress.

“Now, Das Munshi has written to me claiming that the PCC will organise a big condolence meeting for Ruby Noor,” said Abu Hasem.