Mausam Benazir Noor, niece of former Union minister, late A B A Gani Khan Chowdhury, and two-time MP from Malda Lok Sabha constituency, joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday.
Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee announced that Noor will be the TMC candidate from the same constituency in the upcoming General Election and campaign for the party in all districts of North Bengal.
Malda has sent a Congress member to Lok Sabha ever since Khan Chowdhury first got elected in 1980 – he continued until 2004, after which his brother Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury and niece Mausam Noor, became Congress MPs from the two seats in Malda.Noor, 39, met Banerjee at Nabanna, the state Secretariat, on Monday evening and announced her decision to join TMC.
Subhendu Adhikari, MP and TMC’s Malda in-charge, who was also present, told the media, “She will formally join TMC on January 30 at a public meeting in North Bengal. She will also campaign in North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad (districts).”
Noor said, “I’m inspired by Didi (Mamata). I’ll work under her guidance for the development of the state. I believe that she is the last word for everything. We have to fight against the BJP and I’m quite confident that the TMC will win all the 42 seats in West Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections.”
“Barkat sahib (Khan Chowdhury) carried out so many development works for Malda and now people have faith in Didi. We are with her. We will do everything to stop the BJP in West Bengal,” she added.
“The people of Bengal want Mamata Banerjee – there is no denying that fact. I intend to work for people following the footsteps of Mamata Banerjee. Everyone in Bengal know she symbolises development and secularism.” she said to reporters.
Noor have quite often been taking stands which were not in line with that of the party’s state leadership.
The Malda (North) MP has been a strong advocate of electoral alliance with the TMC to fend off the BJP in the state.
She met Banerjee in November last year, giving rise to speculations.
Noor’s uncle Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury, the Congress MP from Malda (South), is also in favour of forging an alliance with the TMC.
