WB ASSEMBLY ELECTION

Dr Fazle Haque is centre of attraction in Cooch Behar

Once he was an stringent opponent of legendary Forward Bloc leader Kamal Guha. Now he is fighting against the son of Kamal Guha, Mr Udayan Guha. But he not ready to admit that his fight is against the Guhas. It is against the Left Front, he declared. He is now the centre of attraction in the political scenario of Cooch Behar as he turned an independent candidate at Dinhata though he is the outgoing Congress MLA from Sitai.

Dr Fazle Haque is actually a doctor. He has been engaged in medical practice since 1965. As a doctor he earned a reputation especially among rural people.

Dr Haque said he entered into politics dated back in 1967 after passing out the medical examination. From then on he contested nine times and won six times. He also tasted the minister-ship, as he was once a state minister in Home department.

Apart from this time he became an independent candidate in 1996. Late Kamal Guha was then the leader of Socialist Forward Bloc. As a candidate at Sitai he earned the SFB's support. "Again I am contesting as an independent candidate at Dinhata and the people of Dinhata are to support me", he claimed.

Dr Haque is an AICC member and he is also in the PCC. He knows that by contesting as an independent candidate he violated party rules and automatically got suspended from the party. But he believes that after winning the seat the party may reconsider his case as they did on an earlier occasion.

The veteran Congress leader is in the opposition group of the official district Congress leadership but enjoys support from the district Youth Congress unit. According to the declared account of assets he is the richest candidate among all the candidates in Cooch Behar district.

What's the reason behind his decision to contest from Dinhata leaving Sitai from where he won in the previous election? Dr Haque said the Sitai seat turned reserved this time and so he chooses Dinhata. But as Dinhata was offered to the NCP by the Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance he had left with no alternative than to contest as an independent candidate, he explained