Noor compares Mamata with Ghani Khan, asks kin to join TMC

Congress MP Mausam Benazir Noor who joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday, said only West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is able to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.

The second-term Congress MP also asked his maternal uncle Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury and his son Isha Khan Chowdhury, MP and MLA of the Congress respectively, to switch over to the ruling party like her.

However, these two Congress leaders later said they would not leave the party.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Noor compared Mamata Banerjee, also Trinamool Congress to the late Congress stalwart and former Union minister ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, another maternal uncle of hers.

"Barkat saheb (Ghani Khan Chowdhury) had worked for the development of Malda. He believed in secularism. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) too has these qualities," the MP from Malda North constituency said.

Noor said, "If we want development of Malda, we have to strengthen Didi's hand. Only she is able to protect the state from the BJP. These are the reasons I changed the party."