<p>Malda: Former Union minister A H Khan Choudhury passed away peacefully at a nursing home in Kolkata two weeks ago. Dalu da, as he was fondly called, was laid to rest beside his brother, <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/congress">Congress</a> patriarch from <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/malda">Malda</a>, ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury (Barkat da), at a mausoleum adjoining the family home in Kotwali.</p>.<p>The sprawling mansion, in the midst of a congested locality, some 10 km from the district headquarters in English Bazar, bears witness to the Ghani Khan family’s long dominance over district politics.</p>.<p>One of India’s longest-serving Railway Ministers, Ghani Khan was a career Congressman, serving in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Some say he brought the Railway Ministry to Malda. Locals benefitted, making Kotwali the go-to destination for one and all.</p>.Congress solo move sharpens TMC-BJP binary ahead of Bengal polls.<p>Despite Left dominance in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/west-bengal">West Bengal</a> from 1977 to 2011, Malda, with over 50% Muslim population, remained firmly aligned with the Congress. After delimitation in 2008, the district was divided into two constituencies—Maldaha Uttar and Maldaha Dakshin.</p>.<p>Maldaha Uttar, which has pockets of tribal population, was wrested by former Left leader Khagan Murmu for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. <br>Maldaha Dakshin remains with the Khan family, represented in the LS by Hasim Ali Khan’s son, Isha Khan Choudhury.</p>.<p>“We will go to the people with our agenda. We stand for change, honesty and development,” Khan said.</p>.<p>In the 2021 Assembly polls, the Congress was routed in the district, with its vote shifting decisively to the Trinamool Congress. By the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a section of the minority community voted for the Khan family to hand Congress its lone seat in West Bengal. This time, the Special Intensive Revision by the EC has led to large-scale deletions from electoral rolls, leaving many voters, especially minorities, anxious.</p>.<p>The Congress is worried that religious polarisation between Trinamool and BJP may push it out of the contest. An encore of the 2021 elections does not augur well for the grand old party, when it lost even the Ghani Khan family bastion, Sujapur.</p>.<p>Mausam Noor, another niece of Ghani Khan, is also back in the Congress after a short stint in the Rajya Sabha on a Trinamool ticket.</p>.<p>The three-time MP is now contesting from Malatipur in Maldaha Uttar. <br>Locals see her shift from Sujapur as a sign of a truce between Khan cousins, Isha and Mausam. While Isha may try to hold onto his seat in 2029 from Maldaha Dakshin, Mausam may try her luck in the north.</p>.<p>Congress leader Rahul Gandhi campaigned for a day for the first phase of elections. He held one meeting in Malda, where the party is caught in a triangular contest with the BJP and the Trinamool. </p>
<p>Malda: Former Union minister A H Khan Choudhury passed away peacefully at a nursing home in Kolkata two weeks ago. Dalu da, as he was fondly called, was laid to rest beside his brother, <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/congress">Congress</a> patriarch from <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/malda">Malda</a>, ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury (Barkat da), at a mausoleum adjoining the family home in Kotwali.</p>.<p>The sprawling mansion, in the midst of a congested locality, some 10 km from the district headquarters in English Bazar, bears witness to the Ghani Khan family’s long dominance over district politics.</p>.<p>One of India’s longest-serving Railway Ministers, Ghani Khan was a career Congressman, serving in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Some say he brought the Railway Ministry to Malda. Locals benefitted, making Kotwali the go-to destination for one and all.</p>.Congress solo move sharpens TMC-BJP binary ahead of Bengal polls.<p>Despite Left dominance in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/west-bengal">West Bengal</a> from 1977 to 2011, Malda, with over 50% Muslim population, remained firmly aligned with the Congress. After delimitation in 2008, the district was divided into two constituencies—Maldaha Uttar and Maldaha Dakshin.</p>.<p>Maldaha Uttar, which has pockets of tribal population, was wrested by former Left leader Khagan Murmu for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. <br>Maldaha Dakshin remains with the Khan family, represented in the LS by Hasim Ali Khan’s son, Isha Khan Choudhury.</p>.<p>“We will go to the people with our agenda. We stand for change, honesty and development,” Khan said.</p>.<p>In the 2021 Assembly polls, the Congress was routed in the district, with its vote shifting decisively to the Trinamool Congress. By the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a section of the minority community voted for the Khan family to hand Congress its lone seat in West Bengal. This time, the Special Intensive Revision by the EC has led to large-scale deletions from electoral rolls, leaving many voters, especially minorities, anxious.</p>.<p>The Congress is worried that religious polarisation between Trinamool and BJP may push it out of the contest. An encore of the 2021 elections does not augur well for the grand old party, when it lost even the Ghani Khan family bastion, Sujapur.</p>.<p>Mausam Noor, another niece of Ghani Khan, is also back in the Congress after a short stint in the Rajya Sabha on a Trinamool ticket.</p>.<p>The three-time MP is now contesting from Malatipur in Maldaha Uttar. <br>Locals see her shift from Sujapur as a sign of a truce between Khan cousins, Isha and Mausam. While Isha may try to hold onto his seat in 2029 from Maldaha Dakshin, Mausam may try her luck in the north.</p>.<p>Congress leader Rahul Gandhi campaigned for a day for the first phase of elections. He held one meeting in Malda, where the party is caught in a triangular contest with the BJP and the Trinamool. </p>