Yusuf Pathan takes guard, begins his Lok Sabha campaign against Cong. heavyweight
Former India cricketer and Trinamool Congress candidate from Baharampur, in West Bengal, Yusuf Pathan on Thursday began his campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Responding to barbs on him being an outsider, Mr. Pathan said, “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.” In what will be a high stakes battle, the former cricketer, who was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team for seven year, is pitched against fivetime MP and West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
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,” he said.
The Trinamool leadership also welcomed the response by Mr. Pathan to being called an outsider. “That was a googly that could have taken the wicket of any batsman. Our MP candidate effortlessly hits the ball out of park,” Trinamool posted on X. On
Thursday, hundreds of people 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 pinchhitter, said, “Gujarat is my 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 fivetime MP, he said that like all things politics also changes.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chowdhury who had earlier said that Trinamool has fielded Mr. Pathan to split the Muslim votes in Baharampur, cautioned his opponent saying “politics and cricket are not the same”.