On Tuesday, Abdul Karim Chowdhury, the TMC MLA of North Dinajpur’s Islampur warned of staging a protest against the party over the controversy that escalated after Zakir Hussain became the Islampur block president of Trinamool. Chowdhury wanted his son Mehtab Hossain to become the block president but his demands remained unfulfilled.
Addressing a press meet at his residence in Islampur on August 16, Chowdhury warned TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to withdraw the decision, failing which he would stage protests in Islampur. “You have excluded me from the Ministry. I said nothing. I won here with the love of the people without the support of the Trinamool. I am a long-time MLA. Why torture me?”, he pondered.
Abdul Karim said that the now-elected block president is a criminal and that he travels with firearms. He also mentioned that he had written to Abhishek Banerjee to request that his elder son, Mehtab Hossain be made the block president. “I would have won with more votes. But I am not greedy. I did not capture the booth. Common people voted for me. Mamata di calls me Karim’da. But why no respect is being given to me? They tried to defeat me”, he was quoted.
Responding to this Kanhaiyalal Aggarwal, the party’s North Dinajpur district president said that Kamaluddin’s name had come up as the block president in the Kolkata meeting. “But he is from the Sujali area. I objected then. I then suggested the name of Zakir Hussain. After this, the party leadership conducted further surveys. Zakir’s name has been announced as such. Zakir is not known to have committed any criminal act here. I don’t know how he knows”, he added.
Aggarwal also defended the party’s decision saying that the party had conducted surveys before the election and that Zakir was found to have no criminal background. “Zakir is not known to have committed any criminal act here. I don’t know how he knows”, he said. Reports mention that Zakir has become the block president for the second time.
“The team has given me responsibility. The size of Islampur is very small. Everyone knows everyone. If someone is satisfied by abusing someone, then there is nothing to do. The party had earlier announced that the responsibility would be given after investigating all aspects. The team has given me the responsibility to judge all aspects. The organization of the party has improved with every election. It will happen in the coming days too. No one has any personal territory. Whatever is there belongs to the party”, he added.
To note, in December last year, MLA Abdul Karim was harassed in an administrative meeting by the Trinamool leader. In the Raiganj administrative conference, Islampur’s MLA had requested a separate district. At the time, the enraged chief minister had chastised Abdul Karim.
