Politicians cutting across party lines paid their tribute to “endearing” Congress veteran and former Union minister Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, who died in Calcutta on Wednesday night. He was 88.

The body of Khan Choudhury, popularly known as Dalu, was brought to Malda from Calcutta by road on Thursday afternoon.

The hearse stopped at many places, including Samsherganj in Murshidabad, 16 Mile area in Baishnabnagar and two areas in Sujapur while on its way to Hayat Bhavan, the district Congress office in Malda town, and the departed leader’s residence, Kotowali.

Thousands paid their last respects to their “Dalu Babu”, the four-time MP of Malda who also served as a Union minister of state in the UPA-II government.

Minister of state Sabina Yeasmin, Englishbazar Trinamool candidate Ashis Kundu and some other senior Trinamool leaders halted their poll campaign to rush to Kotowali and pay homage to the departed Congress leader.

“Dalu Babu was respected by all as he was never bitter against his political rivals. When I was in the Congress, I got enough of his affection,” Yeasmin, also the Trinamool candidate from Sujapur, said.

BJP leaders in Malda were busy with their organisational programme in the presence of the party’s national president Nitin Nabin. But they also formally condoled Khan Choudhury’s death, terming him an “endearing personality”.

“We have ideological differences with him. But there is no denying that Dalu Babu was an endearing personality and cherished no bitterness against us as individuals. He was a gentleman politician,” said Khagen Murmu, the BJP MP from Malda Uttar.

CPM candidate in Englishbazar, Ambar Mitra, rushed to Hayat Bhawan and offered his tribute to Khan Choudhury.

All Congress candidates in Malda, including Mausam Noor, suspended their campaign on Thursday and stood beside Isha Khan Choudhury, the only son of Dalu and the Congress MP from Malda Dakshin.

The leader’s mortal remains were buried at Kotowali around 6.30pm.

Khan Choudhury, the younger brother of the Malda Congress patriarch, A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, was elected as an MLA in 1996 and 2001. In 2006, he was elected as an MP in a by-election after Ghani Khan Choudhury’s death. From 2009 to 2019, he was elected a Congress MP from Malda South. Inducted into the Manmohan Singh government as the Union minister of state for health and family welfare in 2012, he retained the post till 2014. He was the president of the district Congress for
15 years.

“His demise is an irreparable loss for the Congress. However, all the Congress workers in Malda will join hands together to carry forward the party flag,” said Isha, also the Malda district Congress
president.