GUWAHATI: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam on Monday announced the names of its two candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
The party fielded Phani Bhushan Choudhury in the Barpeta seat and Zaved Islam in the Dhubri seat, both Muslim-majority constituencies.
The Barpeta seat is currently held by the Congress’ Abdul Khaleque while perfume baron and minority-based party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal is the Dhubri MP. He has held the seat since 2009.
Choudhury, a founder leader of the AGP, has a distinct record of representing the Bongaigaon Assembly constituency for eighth consecutive term since 1985. Islam is a former MLA.
The AGP is an ally of the BJP which heads the state’s three-party ruling coalition. The United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) is the third component. Assam has 14 Lok Sabha seats and as per their seat-sharing understanding, the BJP will contest 11 seats, AGP two and UPPL one (Kokrajhar).
According to AGP insiders, the party also sought to contest from the Kaziranga seat (it was known as Kaliabor until last year’s delimitation exercise) but was denied by the BJP. The seat is currently held by the Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi.
The AGP is optimistic about winning both Barpeta and Dhubri seats.
“We all know that Phani Bhushan Choudhury is a veteran politician and a tallest leader. We are confident that he will win by a record margin of votes,” AGP vice president Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee told The New Indian Express.
He was equally confident about the Dhubri seat, stating that people would not vote for an outsider this time around.
“One should not be surprised if the AGP wrests the seat from AIUDF. Ajmal Saheb is from Hojai while the Congress’ probable candidate Rokibul Hussain is from Nagaon. People are with us because we fielded one who hails from the constituency,” Bhattacharjee said.
He said people would reject Ajmal as the latter has reached an advanced age and also because he allegedly could not accomplish anything noticeable in the past three terms.
“People love Zaved Islam a lot. He represented the Mankachar seat in Dhubri in the Assembly. His father had served as a minister and his mother too was an MLA,” Bhattacharjee said.