‘Baharampur has accepted me as son, brother and friend’: Yusuf Pathan
The ex-cricketer is the Trinamool Congress's candidate from West Bengal's Baharampur seat, where he is up against the sitting Congress MP, Adhir Chowdhury.
Former cricketer Yusuf Pathan on Sunday said that people of Baharampur, from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha elections, have already accepted him as their “son, brother, and friend.”
“I will stick with them (people) no matter what the outcome of the polls is. I will be with them for a better future they deserve. They are my strength and I will win. With the kind of positive mindset I am in, I am not even thinking about the possibility of a loss,” Pathan told PTI.
The ex-cricketer, candidate of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), also remarked that he was “blessed” to have come to a place where people, he said, tell him that “aap ko hum yahan se jaane nahi denge” (we won't let you leave us).
Pathan, who is making his electoral debut, also expressed his “utmost” respect for Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the sitting MP from this parliamentary seat in the Murshidabad district. Chowdhury, the West Bengal unit president of the Congress, has been winning from Baharampur since 1999, and has been been fielded by the grand old party again.
Pathan, however, claimed that there was “discontentment” on the ground against the senior Congress member.
“People tell me he (Chowdhury) was absent during the Covid years. They also allege that he failed to bring in the required central grants to create infrastructure and employment opportunities. There is not enough work for the people, and the MP of 25 years should answer why he failed,” the 41-year-old, who once represented the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), said.
On what he will do if elected as Baharampur's new MP, Pathan responded that creating job opportunities, building a world-class sports complex and infrastructure for local silk, and establishing a support system for farmers, will be his “priority areas” of work.
