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North East : Assam pre-poll scenario : Selection of candidates picks up

	March 20, 2006

Congress list, a compromise package



The ruling Congress released its list of 120 candidates last week (March 14) for the coming Assembly polls which included the names of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and PCC chief Bhubaneswar Kalita.



Conscious of the anti-incumbency factor that invariably comes into play in every Assam election, the Congress omitted as many as 12 sitting legislators, including a minister.



A party insider said new faces were preferred on the basis of reports received from the constituencies and the party MPs, who were against retaining the sitting legislators. The legislators who faced the axe include minister Hem Prakash Narayan, former education minister Pankaj Bora, Ruponsing Ronghang, Pranay Rabha, Sarbananda Choudhury, Ashahaque Ali, Rana Goswami, Hemanta Talukdar and Dileswar Tanti. The rest are former Nationalist Congress Party candidates who defected to the Congress after winning the 2001 polls.



The list is being seen as a compromise package that aims to appease all the Congress camps, led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita and Union minister Sontosh Mohan Dev. The final combination was drawn up after marathon meetings of the screening committee, which had to contend with divergent views on several prospective candidates.



A senior leader who participated in the meetings explained that an “understanding” on five more seats would be arrived at with a faction of the Bodoland People’s Progressive Front.



Apart from the denial of tickets to 12 legislators, the highlights of the nomination process were the change of constituency for Robin Bordoloi, who will contest the East Guwahati seat instead of Dispur, and the nomination of former Lok Sabha member Madhav Rajbonshi from Kalaigaon. Abdul Muhib Mazumdar, architect of the repealed IM(DT) Act, has been nominated for Hailakandi.



The announcement of the list at the state party headquarters inevitably triggered resentment among a section of party workers who had been camping in the capital city to lobby with the leadership for seats. The inclusion of a few candidates left some MPs frustrated, too.



A legislator who was renominated claimed that at least three candidates in the list had several criminal cases pending against them. “This shows that the same game of nepotism was at play and the screening committee failed to chalk out the right course.”



As many as 30 minority leaders were nominated with an eye on the Muslim votebank and 12 from the tea tribes.



The Congress seems loath to shed the “dynasty” tag, having nominated as many as 13 persons with family connections for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.



The most prominent of the “family” nominees in the list announced in Delhi last week include Rahul Roy (Algapur), son of social welfare minister Gautam Roy, who is contesting from Katlicherra, his bastion, and Bithika Dev, wife of Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev, from Silchar.



Confident of the Congress retaining power for a second term given the turmoil in the Opposition ranks, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the selection of candidates was probably the best in his long political career.



“Every community - tea tribes, minorities, tribals - has been represented and preference given to the ability of a candidate to win. There have been rumblings of discontent given the huge number of applicants, but minimal in the larger context. I assure you it will fizzle out before long and we will face the Opposition in a united manner,” Gogoi said.



Justifying the nomination of relatives of some party leaders, the Chief Minister said: “They have been active members of the party. I see nothing wrong (in their nomination).” On whether he expected to be Chief Minister again, Gogoi said he had never hankered for power.



The Chief Minister charged the Opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BJP of striking a “secret pact” ahead of next month’s Assembly polls. The two parties, however, have denied the charge of any pre-poll understanding. Both have announced names of majority of their candidates contesting the elections.



The AGP and BJP were allies in 2001 Assembly elections.



Polling in Assam for the 126-member Assembly will take place on April 3 and 10.