Younger bro eyes 3rd term to continue Barkat-da's Malda legacy

Congress candidate Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury, who is battling anti-incumbency and "non-performer" tag, is still harping on the work done by his late brother A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, even after eight years of his death, to retain the Malda Dakshin Lok Sabha seat for the third consecutive time.
The 76-year-old Khan Chowdhury, the younger brother of Ghani Khan, who is fondly known as 'Barkat-da' and respected as the architect of modern Malda, faces 16 rivals, including Abul Hasnat Khan (CPI-M), Bishnu Pada Roy (BJP) and Md Moazeem Hossain (Trinamool). Voting here takes place tomorrow.
The Malda Dakshin seat, which has electorate of over 8.5 lakh, comprises seven assembly segments. It was recently in the news as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a narrow escape after a fire broke out in her hotel room here.

Elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in a by-election in 2006 after Ghani Khan's death, Khan Chowdhury is seeking re-election from the seat which has both urban, semi-urban and rural segments. In 2009 elections, he defeated his nearest candidate by a whopping margin of 1.36 lakh votes.
This time, however, Khan Chowdhury, is facing a tough fight with Trinamool Congress, CPI-M and BJP raising the bogey of him being "inactive and a non-performer". They further allege that he failed in his duty of carrying forward the development in the constituency undertaken by his late brother.
Barkat-da, who won from the Malda seat for eight straight times, served as Minister of Railways in Indira Gandhi's and Rajiv Gandhi's governments from 1982 to 1989. He is also famous for actively taking part in introducing Metro in Kolkata.

In an obvious reference to Khan Chowdhury and his niece Mausam Noor, MP from adjoining Malda North, Mamata Banerjee in a recent public rally said, "There are MPs from your region who don't speak a word in Parliament. When water was released from Farakka and Teesta, they remained silent.

"Only when elections come they are visible. Don't vote for such people."
Banerjee had last year blamed the Centre for releasing water from Teesta and Farakka barrages to Bangladesh, overlooking the interests of the state. Malda is a low-lying basin and is known to be prone to floods.
CPI-M candidate Khan wonders for how long the younger brother will keep cashing in on Ghani Khan's legacy.

"It is time now to stop the family fiefdom in Malda," the 67-year-old says.
Striking a similar note, TMC candidate Hossain, who was close to Ghani Khan, says that he would fulfil the dream of Barkat-da and attacked the sitting MP for not doing anything.
Refuting the charges, Khan Chowdhury says he has tried to carry forward the development work by setting up a hospital and an airport, but the projects could not materialise due to land problem.