Sonia flanked by Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and wife Deepa at Samsi Tea Estate. Picture by Surajit Roy

May 4: Barkatda stayed away from Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Malda’s Samsi but refused to explain why.

Yesterday, the Malda Congress legend had sent a request to Sonia Gandhi asking her to come for a roadshow in his backyard before proceeding to Samsi, an Assembly segment in the Raiganj constituency from where Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is contesting.

Ghani Khan, who is seeking an eight-time entry to Parliament, was among the leaders who were supposed to be present on the dais with Sonia.

But he did not show up at Samsi, and instead spent the day campaigning in Englishbazar and Manikchak where he refused to explain why he had turned down a personal request from Das Munshi to attend the rally.

“It is only natural that Barkatda stayed away from the rally as Sonia did not react to his request for a roadshow,” a senior Malda Congress leader said.

Ghani Khan’s sister, Ruby Noor, and brother Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury, were, however, present.

Sonia, too, while exhorting over a lakh that had gathered at the college grounds to return Das Munshi to Parliament, did not mention Ghani Khan.

In her 11-minute speech, the Congress president attacked the Vajpayee government and the BJP for bringing nothing but hatred and hardship for the nation.

“There are some parties in this state that have sided with the BJP, they can never be of any help to the people of this country,” she said, without mentioning either the Trinamul Congress or Mamata Banerjee.

Sonia was soft on the CPM, and instead said the Rajbanshis had their problems in north Bengal and Das Munshi had taken up the issue in Parliament.

Sonia reached Samsi at 2.10 pm, 25 minutes ahead of schedule, with the helicopter landing about 100 metres from the dais. She walked to the meeting ground where Das Munshi introduced her to a long row of local Congress leaders.

Sonia, however, attacked the CPM at her next rally in support of Jangipur candidate Pranab Mukherjee in Murshidabad’s Dhuliyan.

Trouble broke out at the meeting venue at Dhuliyan Kanchantala High School where a large crowd of 50,000could not be accommodated in the relatively small ground which can hold about 30,000. Trees, rooftops and verandas were crammed with people.

A section of the crowd threw stones when police used lathis to clear people standing on a tin roof, which almost gave way.

Congress Seva Dal Murshidabad chairman Atin Gupta was injured by a missile while Sonia was speaking.

“In Bengal, the CPM has done nothing, it is lagging behind in basic infrastructure like roads, water and power, till their misrule ends this state can never develop,” she said.

“Vajpayee is India’s first Prime Minister’s whose words can never be believed, I am trying to form a platform with all secular parties to oust the BJP,” Sonia said.