By IANS,
New Delhi : Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, who was sworn in Sunday as minister of state for health and family welfare, is the brother of late West Bengal Congress stalwart Abu Barkat Ghani Khan Choudhury.
Abu Hasem belongs to north Bengal’s backward Malda district, which is famous for its mangoes.
While Ghani Khan is still regarded as an architect of the district for the plethora of development work he initiated as railway minister, Abu Hasem’s anointment as minister stems from the party’s need to project a Muslim face from the state, which has around 28 percent of its electorate from the minority community.
Abu Hasem, 74, is a graduate in industrial psychology who had his education in England and Canada. Prompted by Ghani Khan, Abu Hasem alias Dalu plunged into politics in 1996 and became a legislator twice.
In 2006, after Ghani Khan’s death, he won the Lok Sabha by-poll from Malda seat and returned to parliament in 2009 by emerging victor from the newly-carved out Malda South constituency.