BeyondHeadlines Staff Reporter
Guwahati, Assam: In neighbouring Moran constituency, Congress candidate Jibontara Ghatowar was making a bid to enter the assembly for the third consecutive term and was locked in a triangular contest with AGP’s Sunil Rajkonwar and BJP’s woman candidate Swarna Saikia Deori.
Ghatowar, wife of veteran Lok Sabha MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar, had polled a high 48.82 percent of votes in the last polls and has a clear edge over her rivals. Ghatowar points out that she herself is from the tea tribe community and understands the pain and suffering of her own people who will also repose their “faith in me as they know they can always approach me with their problems.”
Another prominent Congress candidate is the outgoing assembly’s Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan from Naharkatiya who is making a bid to enter the house for the fourth consecutive term, but her position is slightly shaky following allegations of corruption against her by the opposition.
“The opposition parties have not been able to bring any specific case of corruption but was indulging in mere mud-slinging,” Phukan alleged. Phukan is engaged in a tough triangular contest with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Pradip Buragohain and AGP’s Naren Sonowal among eight candidates in the fray.
Assam Water Resources Minister Prithbi Majhi, bidding to enter the house for the fifth consecutive term, is also locked in a triangular contest with AGP’s Terosh Gowalla and BJP’s Ranjit Konwar in Lahowal Assembly constituency.
Majhi appears to have an advantage over his rivals mainly due to the fact that he belongs to the tea tribe community though the AGP and BJP candidates were expected to give him some unnerving moments.
In Duliajan, sitting BJP MLA Rameswar Teli was locked in a triangular contest with AGP’s Hiteswar Phukan and Congress’s Amiya Gogoi. Gogoi, a three-time MLA since 1985 and a minister in the Hiteswar Saikia government, lost the seat in 2001 and was denied ticket in 2006 but was making all-out effort to wrest the seat from the BJP and make up for lost times.
Teli, however, is not going to let go without a fight as the constituency has several oilfields. In Tingkhong, Anup Phukan, the sole sitting MLA of the AGP from the district since 2001, is locked in a direct contest with two-time former Congress MLA Etuwa Munda although the BJP has also fielded a candidate, Ranjan Bikash Buragohain.
Munda claimed that the AGP was a spent force, and the Congress was returning to power with the people of Tingkhong realising that it was better to vote for a member of the ruling party which has made his victory a foregone conclusion.PTI DG MD RG 03291010
