Mausam Noor, the Rajya Sabha member of Trinamul from Malda, reached her home district on Tuesday from Delhi, ending all speculations and worries of party leaders and workers.
So far, Noor had been absent in the district and was not seen in the Lok Sabha poll campaigns of Trinamul candidates in two constituencies of Malda district.
On Tuesday, when she reached Malda, Noor spoke to The Telegraph, saying she was ill. “I was down with viral fever. It is true I was in Delhi for some personal work. However, it would be wrong to interpret that I would move to any other political party,” she said.
“I am better now. I will check out the campaign schedules drawn by the party and consult the party candidates so that I can join the campaign in both seats of Malda district,” added the Trinamul leader.
Trinamul candidates Prasun Banerjee and Shahnawaz Ali Raihan kicked off their campaign in north Bengal almost a week ago, hoping that an early start would help them to wrest the two seats this time from the BJP and the Congress, respectively.
In 2019, the BJP won the Malda North seat and the Congress Malda South.
Over the past few weeks, Noor, who is the only active Trinamul politician from the family of the late Congress patriarch A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, was not in her home district.
Her absence had led to ripples within Trinamul and a section of party insiders close to Noor expressed their disappointment as the party leadership didn’t choose her as the Lok Sabha candidate in either of the Malda seats.
After Trinamul announced the names of Banerjee and Raihan, the Rajya Sabha member could not be traced in any programme or even election campaigns of her party.
District Trinamul leaders too, were facing questions about her absence.
Speculations were rife on whether Noor would switch sides when it became known that she was in New Delhi.
However, on Tuesday, Noor's arrival in Malda and explanation for her absence left many in Trinamul, including Malda North candidate Banerjee, elated.
“We are happy that she (Noor) has come back. She is a seasoned political leader and has enough experience in carrying out election campaigns. Her presence will strengthen our campaign,” said Banerjee, who is a former IPS officer.
