Congress names candidates for 11 Bengal LS seats

Kolkata, March 19 (IANS) Putting an end to all speculations of renewed efforts for a tie up with the Left Front (LF) in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Monday night put up candidates in the two seats won by the LF spearhead CPI-M in the previous general elections.

The Congress declared candidates for 11 constituencies in the state, in its fifth list of nominees overall and the first for Bengal.

Former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi will contest from Raiganj, while Abu Hena would be the party candidate from Murshidabad.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Mohammad Salim had defeated Dasmunsi by a slender margin in 2014, while Badaruddoza Khan entered the Lok Sabha from Murshidabad.

The Congress had earlier decided not to contest the two seats, and leave them to the CPI-M. However, the Congress changed its stand after the seat sharing talks broke off.

The party has re-nominated its sitting MP Abhijit Mukherjee, son of former President Pranab Mukherjee from Jangipur in West Bengal. It has again fielded party MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Baharampur.

Among other candidates announced by the party, former union minister Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would be in fray from his fort Baharampur, which has elected him four times consecutively. Another former Union Minister Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury would fight it out from Malda South, which has elected him in 2009 and 2014.

Abu Hashem's son Isha Khan Choudhury, an MLA from Sujapur, is the Congress candidate from Malda North. He will take on his cousin Mausam Noor, who has been nominated by the Trinamool.

Abu Hashem is the brother of legendary Congress leader from Malda district -- the late A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury.