BJP targeted Congress with EC’s help: Gaurav
Breaking his silence, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said the BJP targeted his Kaliabor constituency (now renamed as Kaziranga) through the delimitation exercise as the grand old party was virtually invincible in the seat. He said the Kaliabor seat of yesteryears, which was made up of 10 Assembly segments, was a Congress fortress and even if PM Narendra Modi had contested from there, he could not have defeated the Congress candidate. “If you ask me where I want to contest from, I would say erstwhile Kaliabor. For 30 years, my family contested from there. That’s why, the BJP with the help of Election Commission demolished our (Congress’) Kaliabor house,” Gogoi told journalists.
Portal launch to help villages get roads
The Assam government will come up with a portal to help villages apply for roads. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said any village, which has 250 households or a minimum population of 1,000, will be eligible to get a road. The government will compare the figure of population with the Census, 2011 data. He said this is as part of the state’s preparation for next generation reform. “If a village needs a road, it won’t have to go to a minister or an MLA. It will apply through the portal sharing the required details,” Sarma said, adding, “Sometimes if a village does not have a good relationship with the local MLA, it does not get a road.”
Candidates withdrawn to avoid division of votes
The AAP withdrew its Guwahati candidate for the Lok Sabha elections and asked the Congress to reciprocate in a similar manner. Earlier, AAP had named its Guwahati, Sonitpur and Dibrugarh candidates. Congress has announced the names of its 12 candidates. It left one seat (Dibrugarh) to ally Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) while no decision has been made yet on one seat. The AJP pitted its chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi against Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Dibrugarh. The AAP said the decision to withdraw the Guwahati candidate was made to avoid spilt of anti-BJP votes. “We made high sacrifice for the sake of opposition unity,” AAP chief Bhaben Choudhury said.
Prasanta Mazumdar
Our correspondent in Guwahati
prasantamazumdar@newindianexpress.com