GUWAHATI
Congress has finalised the candidates for five of Assam’s 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, the party’s State president Bhupen Kumar Borah said on February 13.
There are at least two candidates in each of the remaining nine parliamentary seats in the State, he said. These include the constituencies Congress is expected to leave for others in the United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA).
The 15-party UOFA was formed after the 10-party Mahajot (super alliance) experiment ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections in Assam did not last long.
“We had more than 70 applicants for the 14 constituencies. Our screening committee has shortlisted a candidate each for five constituencies while the remaining nine have two aspirants each and some of these are likely to be given to our UOFA partners,” Mr. Borah told journalists.
“We will take the final decision by February 20 or 22,” he said.
Mr. Borah’s announcement came days after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), one of the UOFA constituents, declared candidates for three Lok Sabha constituencies — Dibrugarh, Guwahati and Sonitpur — as it was “tired of waiting” for the seat-sharing arrangement.
The Congress is keen on contesting the Guwahati seat but is expected to leave the Dibrugarh seat to Lurinjyoti Gogoi of the Assam Jatiya Parishad.
The AAP was not the only UOFA member that struck a discordant note. The Trinamool Congress said it intended to field candidates in four Lok Sabha seats in Assam.
“We have a chance in these constituencies,” the party’s State president Ripun Bora said.
Meanwhile, Assam’s Information Minister Pijush Hazarika took a “fixed match” swipe at the Congress for its “dynastic culture” after speculations that the grand old party may take the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat away from incumbent Pradyut Bordoloi and give it to Gaurav Gogoi, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son who represents the Kaliabor seat.
Kaliabor was reshaped and renamed Kaziranga after the delimitation in 2023.
“...however hard you work, it’s a fixed match between the @INCIndia Dynasty and @INCAssam Dynasty. You have worked hard for 5 years but they will give your Nagaon Lok Sabha Ticket to the heir of the dynasty. This is Cong culture,” Mr. Hazarika wrote on social media platform X while replying to Mr. Bordoloi’s post listing his performance as the MP of Nagaon.
