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Assembly polls : Congress sets poll ball rolling |
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On the political front, the Congress geared itself in the poll mode with the appointment of AICC observers and festival sops. The elections in the state are due early next year.
The candidate selection process in the state was set in motion by the Congress high command with the appointment of three observers to prepare the initial list of probable party candidates for the Assembly polls.
Apparently with an eye on the election, the Tarun Gogoi government has announced Rs 1,000 each to two lakh grade IV employees as festival allowance. The monthly remuneration of the village headmen was enhanced by Rs 250.
“As Durga Puja and Id gift to the village headmen, the Chief Minister has decided to give each of them Rs 1,500 to buy bicycles. However, they will have to submit receipts to the government to ensure that the money is not used for any other purpose,” said Planning and Development Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He said the three observers - Hanumanta Rao, I.G. Sanadi and A.P. Sethi - are expected to visit the state early next month to hold discussions with workers and frontal organisations of the party.
Sarma said the constitution of the election committee of the Assam PCC is also in its final stages.
The names of probables suggested by the PCC election committee and the AICC observers will be forwarded to the screening committee, which will take the final decision in consultation with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Gogoi.
The observers were appointed during a meeting in New Delhi last week which was attended by Congress general secretary in-charge of Assam, Digvijay Singh, Assam PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita, Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries Santosh Mohan Dev and Union Minister of State for Defence B.K. Handique and other senior leaders of the party.
With barely a few months left for the elections, hectic lobbying and backroom politicking has already begun. Against the backdrop of Gogoi’s detractors continuing a sustained campaign to marginalise him, the Gogoi camp has stepped up efforts to deprive the leaders, who have raised the banner of revolt against Gogoi, of tickets.
On the formation of a political party christened United Democratic Front by powerful minority organisations on October 3, Sarma claimed that it would have no impact on the poll prospects of the Congress as the minority communities of Assam have never voted on communal lines.
“There are many examples in the past when Congress candidates from the majority community have been elected from minority-dominated constituencies of the state,” he said.
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