Kolkata, February 14 – Humayun Kabir, founder of the Janata Unnayan Party, claimed on Saturday that being a part of the Trinamool Congress’ plan to defeat former West Bengal state Congress president and five-time Lok Sabha member, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, from the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency in 2024, was one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
Kabir is a legislator from the Bharatpur Assembly constituency, which is one of the seven Assembly constituencies under Baharampur Lok Sabha. After being elected from Baharampur for five consecutive terms in 2024, Chowdhury was defeated by the Trinamool Congress candidate and cricketer-turned-politician, Yusuf Pathan, by a margin of 85,022 votes.
Speaking to a group of journalists, Kabir also said that Pathan, a resident of Gujarat, becoming the candidate for Baharampur was a misfortune for the voters there.
"Pathan rarely comes to Baharampur since he was elected as an MP here in 2024. Even after getting elected, he did not thank the voters of Baharampur for coming here. The defeat of the former five-time Lok Sabha member in 2024 was a mistake for the people of Baharampur. And my biggest mistake was that I became a part of the effort to defeat him in 2024," Kabir said.
He also said that since he is regretting his mistake, he will also be a part of the process to ensure a landslide defeat for Pathan in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2029.
Kabir was suspended from the Trinamool Congress just days before the foundation stone for the proposed Babri Mosque at Beldanga in Murshidabad district, which he had initiated, was laid.
Meanwhile, Kabir had floated his political outfit, Janata Unnayan Party, and given an alliance call to all anti-BJP and anti-Trinamool Congress forces for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state, which are scheduled later this year.
However, except for the Asaduddin Owaisi-founded AIMIM, his alliance talks have not progressed much.