Congress divived on tieup, to contest all Assam seats

Guwahati: The Opposition Congress on Friday announced the last candidate list for the remaining four Lok Sabha seats in Assam.

The party has fielded Bobeeta Sharma in the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha seat while its MLA Abdul Khaleque has been given a nomination for the Barpeta seat, currently in the hands of the All India United Demo-cratic Front (AIUDF).

The party has nominated its former MLA Abu Taher Bepari to challenge the sitting AIUDF president Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, who had recently announced that candidates would not be fielded in five Lok Sabha seats in order to avoid the division of secular votes, which may help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress also fielded Sabda Ram Rabha in the Kokrajhar seat. Admitting that the opinion of party leaders was divided over the selection of candidates as well as on forging an alliance, sources in the ruling par-ty admitted that a section of leaders of the party was advocating an alliance with the AIUDF, which was contesting only three seats where it has sitting MPs.

Indicating that the AIUDF was asking for weak candidates for these three seats, sources said that initially, the party had agreed, but subsequently, the party decided to field strong candidates for all seats.

The party also took a long time to decide on its candidate for the Gauhati constituency as opinions among state party leaders were divided on the choice of candidate in the constituency where the BJP has fielded former mayor of Guwahati, Queen Ojha.

The Congress is contesting the 14 constituencies without any formal poll alliance even though the rival BJP-led alliance has accused the party of having a covert understanding with the ‘communal’ AIUDF.

The BJP has left Barpeta, Dhubri and Koliabor for its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Kokrajhar for the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which has nominated MLA Promila Rani Brahma.