BJP names 8 candidates; scene heats up in State

AGP fields Moni Madhab Mahanta in Kaliabor

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 22: The Lok Sabha poll scene in Assam has begun to hot up with the BJP naming candidates for eight seats – dropping as many as three sitting MPs – from the race. The party has left political pundits speculating about two names by stopping short of naming its candidates for Tezpur and Nagaon seats.

While the Congress has already named ten candidates, the AGP has named Moni Madhab Mahanta as its candidate for Kaliabor and the AIUDF is yet to name any candidate. The regional party is going to contest three constituencies – Barpeta, Dhubri and Kaliabor – in alliance with the BJP. The BPF, on the other hand, has already named its lone candidate minister Pramila Rani Brahma for the Kokrajhar seat.

The three sitting BJP MPs who failed to make it to the list of candidates in their respective constituencies are Ramen Deka, Bijaya Chakraborty and Kamakhya Prasad Tasha. The eight BJP candidates are sitting MP Rameswar Teli for Dibrugarh, Power Minister Topon Gogoi for Jorhat, sitting MP Pradan Baruah for Lakhimpur, Queen Ojha for Guwahati, Dilip Saikia for Mangaldai, Haren Singh Bey for Autonomous Council (Diphu), Rajdeep Roy for Silchar and Kripanath Mallah for Karimganj. Confusion still hinges over Tezpur where sitting MP RP Sharmah has quit the BJP and Nagaon where sitting MP Rajen Gohain is not going to contest this poll on moral ground.

Meanwhile, four of the five seats going to poll on April 11 are likely to witness BJP-Congress straight fight. The fight for Kaliabor seat is between AGP’s Moni Madhab Mahanta and sitting MP Gaurav Gogoi. While Topon Kumar Gogoi of the BJP is pitted against Congress’ Sushanta Borgohain for Jorhat seat, BJP’s Pradan Baruah is in a straight fight with Congress’ Anil Borgohain in Lakhimpur and Rameswar Teli is in a direct showdown with Congress’ Pabon Singh Ghatowar in Dibrugarh. In rest of the seats, the BJP’s yet-to-be-named candidate is set to be pitted against MGVK Bhanu of the Congress for Tezpur seat, and the BJP’s to-be-named candidate to be in a straight fight with Congress’ Pradyut Bordoloi for Nagaon seat, Congress sitting MP Sushmita Dev is facing a challenge from Rajdeep Roy of the BJP for the Silchar seat, Kripanath Mallah of the BJP in Karimganj is in a fight with Congress’ Swarup Das, and veteran Congress leader Bhubaneswar Kalita is facing a challenge from young Dilip Saikia of the BJP for the Mangaldai seat.