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| Priyanka wooing Tea planters |
Best of campaigners did not help Congress - as of yet! Sincere efforts to make inroads among tea tribes before the Assam polls hit a roadblock after Rupesh Gowala, the general secretary of the influential Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, joined the ruling BJP.
The BJP is now likely to field Gowala from Doomdooma constituency in Upper Assam. The seat is at present held by Congress member Durga Bhumij.
"I was impressed by BJP's development agenda," says Gowala. It may be mentioned that Congress has been desperately working hard to win over tea-tribes. Rahul Gandhi announced Rs 365 as daily minimum wage for a garden worker and Congress general secretary and his sister Priyanka said the party would work for the community if the party is voted to power.
She visited Biswanath district to understand the problems faced by the garden workers and also guaranteed a sum of Rs 2000 a month to all housewives.
BJP Minister Sum Ronghang returns to Congress
Denied ticket from Karbianglong hub Diphu, Assam Hills Area Development Minister, Sum Ronghang, has quit the BJP and joined Congress. If fielded by grand old party, he would now take on BJP's
Bidya Sing Engleng.
Some of the newly inducted candidates that replaced the sitting MLA's (BJP) are - In Sonari, sitting MLA Nabanita Handique was replaced by Dharmeswar Konwar, in Bihpuria, MLA Debananda Hazarika was replaced by Amiyo Kumar Bhuyan in Bihpuria, MLA Rituparna Barua was replaced by Binod Hazarika in Lahowal.
Jayanta Malla Baruah replaced sitting BJP legislator Ashok Sharma in Nalbari.
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| "Jaundiced View": Blogger |
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) first list of candidates
Bokakhat ---- Atul Bora
Koliabor ---- Keshav Mahanta
Teok ..... Renupama Rajkhowa
Dergaon ------ Bhabendra Nath Bharali
Amguri ---- Pradeep Hazarika
Chabua ---- Ponakon Baruah
Naoboisa --- Jayanta Khaund
Tezpur --- Prithiviraj Rabha
Himanta-Sonowal battle comes to fore in BJP ticket distribution in Assam
Is BJP planning to replace Sonowal by Amit Shah's man for all seasons in northeast politics, Himanta Biswa Sarma ?
Perhaps this has been indicated in quite crystal clear terms by BJP central leadership's decision to drop as many as 11 sitting MLAs - and most of them being loyalists and admirers of the incumbent Chief Minister Sonowal.
The BJP's official line in Assam has been the crucial ticket distribution has been guided by the philosophy of 'Change amid Continuity'. However, sources said while one makes threadbare analysis, it is bound to become clear that "blessed by a powerful central leader Himanta Biswa Sarma's machinations have eclipsed Chief Minister Sonowal's image".
The list released by the saffron party has deprived tickets to 11 sitting MLAs. The legislators are from Silchar, Howraghat, Katigora, Diphu, Baithalangso, Lahowal, Bihpuria, Sonari, Nalbari, Halflong, and Barkhola.
In 2016, displaying good strike rate, the BJP had won 60 seats of the 84 seats it had contested.
Five years back, it was a significant and maiden victory for power in Assam after years of struggle and works at the grassroots levels.
But the ticket distribution this year has left 'genuine and original BJP loyalists and foot soldiers' anguished.
"The ticket distribution and the manner the Himanta faction has been given preference shows, even if we come to power in Assam yet again, it will be a BJP-led regime by name as most turncoats and former Congress leaders would be accommodated," said a party leader in Silchar in Bengali-dominated Cachar valley.
In Silchar, the sitting legislator Dilip Kumar Paul has been shown the door and instead the Lotus party has reposed faith in Dipayan Chakraborty.
"Paul was a preferred man for Silchar. He had won a tough by-election in 2014 during Tarun Gogoi's rule. Today, he has been denied ticket. Along with him, all of us are feeling frustrated. All our hard work during Covid19 and last seven years has been forgotten.....Where from the high command got this wisdom," said Premtosh Das, a local BJP leader from 1990s.
Indications are on that Paul's supporters held a meeting on Friday late night and decided to pressurise him to contest as Independent candidate. Paul is yet to take a final call.
There would be another dissidence angle as former Union Minister Kabindra Purkayastha's son, Kanad too has been denied party ticket.
Similarly, there are reports of dissensions among the rank and file in Lakhipur constituency also where the saffron outfit has fielded Kaushik Rai and denied ticket to former Congress legislator Rajdeep Gowala, who was elected to the Assembly in the 2016 elections, and had joined BJP.
The fact that ant-incumbency mood is quite strong against BJP could be gauged from the fact that the party has decided to field BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass from Patacharkuchi, which falls under Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency.
In 2016, this assembly segment was won Pobindra Deka of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). In two previous occasions 2011 and 2016, Dass represented Sarbhog assembly segment that falls under Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency.
The shift for a senior leader like Dass, a former Assembly Speaker and deputy leader of the BJP in the Assam Legislative Assembly between 2011 and 2016, has been necessitated as Dass faces the prospects of losing from Sarbhog.
Dass had moved as BJP Assam President on January 30, 2017 and is now known for allegedly associating himself with the Himanta camp.
Similarly, in Haflong reserve seat, Nandita Gar Losa will be the BJP nominee instead of Bir Bhadra Hagjer.
The Halflong has been traditionally a Congress-stronghold seat with Gobinda Chndra Langthasa winning the seat for grand old party in six elections since 1985.
Himanta Biswa Sarma will contest from Jalukbari. He has been winning from the segment for four times.
He had won the seat for BJP in 2016, while on three previous occasions, he won it as Congress nominee in 2001, 2006 and 2011.
A key feature of ticket distribution and seat allocation among the allies this year is the fact that a former doyen of regional politics Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has been apparently dumped by AGP for the former Chief Minister's open and strong opposition to the CAA.
Mahanta is one of the founding leaders of the party and former party president and ex-Chief Minister. Now BJP candidate Jitu Goswami would contest from Prafulla Mahanta's seat in Barhampur.
Of the 126 assembly segments, Asam Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party (Liberal) will contest from 26 constituencies and eight constituencies respectively.
One seat will be contested by Rabha Joutho Mancha also but they will be contesting under BJP's party symbol.
The 126-member Assam Assembly will go to the polls in three phases on March 27 (47 seats), April 1 (39 seats) and April 6 (40 seats). The results will be declared on May 2.
However, if Sonai seat is given to AIUDF as part of alliance arrangements with Congress, Laskar would face an uphill task.
In 2016, Laskar had won the seat in the triangular contest.
In fact, the BJP nominee Laskar had polled 44,236 votes as against 36,683 of Congress and AIUDF Karimuddin Barbhuiya's 32,109 votes.
In fact, the alliance between AIUDF of Badruddin Ajmal and the Congress has thrown huge challenge to the BJP in as many as 17 assembly segments.
The combined votes of Congress and AIUDF candidates in 17 segments was more than BJP's.
"We should not be overconfident of so called Modi wave etc.....In 2015 in Bihar, we had paid the price of underestimating the combined strength of opposition. Similar situation prevails in Assam today," said a key BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.
ends
BJP drops 11 sitting MLAs
New Delhi/Guwahati: Continuity with change seemed to have guided the BJP leadership on their decision to elect candidates for 126-member Assam elections.
The list released by the saffron party on Friday has deprived tickets to 11 sitting MLAs.
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