Former cricketer and TMC candidate Yusuf Pathan during an election campaign ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, at Berhampore in Murshidabad district, Thursday, March 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Refuting the barbs of being an outsider to West Bengal, former India cricketer and Trinamool Congress candidate from Baharampur Yusuf Pathan on March 21 began his campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“The biggest example is our Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is from Gujarat and we all know from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha polls,” Mr. Pathan said. The former cricketer has been pitched against five time MP and West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has defended his fiefdom despite shrinking electoral fortunes of the Congress in the State.
Flanked by senior Trinamool Congress leaders from Murshidabad, Abu Taher and Humayun Kabir, Mr. Pathan said that anyone in the country can contest polls from anywhere. “ This is my home. I am here to stay,” the former cricketer said.
The Trinamool leadership also welcomed the comments made by Mr. Pathan on being called an outsider. “ That was a googly that could have taken the wicket of any batsmen. Our MP candidate effortlessly hits the ball out of park,” Trinamool posted on X. On Thursday, hundreds of people had gathered at Baharampur to catch a glimpse of the Trinamool candidate.
Speaking to journalists the former cricketer who was often promoted up the order as a pinch-hitter to score runs said that “Gujarat was his “janmbhoomi (birth place)” but Bengal is his “karmabhoomi (place of work)”.
Though Mr. Pathan admitted that he was facing a tall political opponent and a five time MP, he said that like all things politics also changes.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had earlier said that Trinamool has fielded Yusuf Pathan to split Muslim votes at Baharampur, cautioned his political opponent by saying “politics and cricket are not the same.
