The Congress on Tuesday released a first list of candidates for the Assam (65) and West Bengal (43) Assembly polls.
The Congress on Tuesday released a first list of candidates for the Assam (65) and West Bengal (43) Assembly polls. While chief minister Tarun Gogoi, several Cabinet colleagues and senior state leaders figure in the list of Assam, the Bengal list shows tactical understanding with the Left Front.
Mr Gogoi, who is at the helm of the state for 15 years, is contesting the polls from Titabar in Jorhat district. Polling for the 126 Assembly constituencies will be held in two phases on April 4 and 11.
Former Union minister Paban Ghatowar is the party nominee from Moran. The Congress is going it alone, with Mr Gogoi projecting it as a fight between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress, which has announced names of its candidates for 43 seats for Bengal, indicated it would contest around 90 out of a total 294 constituencies as part of its “strategic alliance” with the CPI(M)-led Left Front.
Former state Congress chief Manas Bhuniya is the party’s candidate from Sabang in West Midnapore, while state CLP leader Mohammed Sohrab has been nominated from Jangipur in Murshidabad.
Most of the sitting MLAs have been renominated except for former AICC secretary D.P. Roy, who had protested against the alliance with the Left parties.
Biswaranjan Sarkar has been brought in as the new candidate from Alipurduar which was being represented by Mr Roy in the outgoing Assembly. Mr Roy had informed party chief Sonia Gandhi that he would not contest the poll.
A senior AICC leader, who declined to be identified, said that the party would contest a “minimum of 90” seats while talks in state party circles is that the Congress would put up candidates in a total of 93 seats.
In the last Assembly polls, the Congress had contested 61 seats in alliance with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress, which led to ouster of the CPI(M)-led Left Front after over 33 years in power.
The Congress has been ruling in Assam but in West Bengal it is fighting the battle either to retain its numbers (42) or increase it. The Congress and the Left are focusing on seats in Murshidabad and Malda.
Meanwhile, among Congress candidates in Assam are Akhil Ranjan Talukdar (Ratabari), Monilal Gowla (Patharkhandi), Kamalkhya Dey Purkayashtha (Karimganj-North), Siddeque Ahmed (Karimganj-South) and Jamaluddin Ahmed (Badarpur).
