Guwahati: Congress’s key regional ally Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) on Tuesday released its first list of eight candidates for the assembly election election, fielding party president and former Aasu general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi from Khowang and former BJP leader Rajen Gohain from Barhampur.Lurinjyoti will contest from the newly created Khowang seat in upper Assam, once seen as a Congress stronghold. Gohain, a former minister of state for railways in the first Modi govt and now AJP working president, has been nominated from Barhampur in central Assam, a constituency earlier represented by former chief minister and AGP veteran Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.
The party also named Bani Das from Morigaon, Jibon Chutia from Sarupathar, Pankaj Lochan Goswami from Palasbari, Dilip Barua from Bajali, Mainak Patra from Dibrugarh, and Rejaul Karim Choudhury from Binnakandi.Announcing the list at a press conference, Lurinjyoti said, “Today, we have names of candidates of eight constituencies, but in another two we have not announced the names of nominees, which are Sadiya and Guwahati Central.”AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan had been expected to contest from Sadiya, but the party’s political affairs committee and steering committee advised that one among the president, general secretary or working president should reconsider contesting to supervise the campaign and guide the party during the election.Lurinjyoti said that is why the party is yet to declare a candidate for Sadiya. He added that the issue would be discussed again on Wednesday.Bhuyan alleged that the decision to hold the Assam election in a single phase was aimed at helping BJP at a time when, he claimed, the party was not in a strong position. “It has been made a single-phase election so that the impact of the first phase, which is usually held in upper Assam, does not have a negative impact on BJP’s prospects in lower Assam and the Barak Valley,” said Bhuyan.He said a single-phase election would also hurt smaller parties because their leaders would have to focus on their own constituencies while campaigning across the state.Lurinjyoti said AJP had submitted a list of 28 aspirants to Congress and sought to contest the same number of seats, but later reduced its demand to facilitate alliance formation. He also indicated that friendly contests with other partners in the Cong-led alliance could take place in a few constituencies.The seat-sharing arrangement has already triggered protests in some areas. In Khowang and Binnakandi, some Congress workers protested and vandalised party offices after the seats were allotted to AJP.Lurinjyoti said he was still hopeful that Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal would join the alliance against the BJP-led govt. “If we have to defeat BJP, there is no other alternative to fighting against BJP together. We must stop division of votes among opposition parties,” Lurinjyoti cautioned.
