Assam: Congress names ex-BJP leader as bypoll candidate, causes split in oppn forum

Guwahati: The Congress has named former BJP leader Jayanta Bora as its candidate for the by-election to the Behali seat in Assam, even as his nomination led to a split in the united opposition forum in the state.

Bora had recently resigned from the BJP after being denied a party ticket and joined the Congress at Tezpur on Thursday, several hours after being named the official party candidate.

A statement issued by AICC general secretary KC Venugopal on Wednesday named Bora as the party’s official candidate for the Behali constituency.

The announcement came amid a major row in the 16-party opposition alliance in the state, Asom Sonmilito Morcha (ASOM), over the seat which resulted in the Congress being now left out of the conglomerate.

State Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah, who had resigned as the president of ASOM over the seat-sharing dispute, on Thursday defended the party’s decision to field its nominee from Behali.

“We had to decide whether we wanted to field a powerful candidate or support anyone for the sake of opposition unity. As the state Congress chief, my in-principle support has to be with the AICC decision,” he maintained.

The state chief said Bora has been inducted in the party at its Tezpur office.

“Everyone knows that I did my best to keep opposition unity intact. But a national party doesn’t run as per one person’s wish,” Borah added.

According to an earlier understanding in the ASOM, four of the five seats going to bypolls were to be contested by the Congress and Behali would go to CPI(ML) Liberation.

However, a section of local Congress leaders in Biswanath district opposed the decision and wanted to have their own candidate.

A five-member committee formed by the opposition bloc had refused to reconsider the decision to field a CPI(ML) L candidate from Behali and demanded immediate confirmation from AICC.

State Congress chief Borah had on Tuesday night resigned as the president of ASOM expressing “tremendous pressure” after the Congress high command refused to accept the united opposition’s nominee of the CPI(ML)L.

Several Congress leaders confirmed to PTI that party MP Gaurav Gogoi was in favour of giving the Behali ticket to Jayanta Bora.

Bypolls will be held in Dholai (SC), Sidli (ST), Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri assembly constituencies on November 13 as these seats fell vacant with the representatives winning in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

The Congress fielded Tanzil Hussain from Samaguri, Dhrubajyoti Purakayastha from Dholai, Sanjib Warle from Sidli and Brajenjit Sinha from Bongaigaon.

The BJP-AGP-UPPL combine had held four of the constituencies that are going for the bypolls, while one was held by Congress..

The counting of votes will take place on November 23.