Falling short

Asom Gana Parishad bites dust, draws solace from decrease in Cong tally; no sign of Prafulla Mahanta

In spite of the backing of Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, many notable candidates of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) bit the dust in the Assembly polls.

‘‘I still can’t believe it. Several of our sure-shot candidates have lost. But it is the people’s verdict and I accept it with humility,’’ said AGP chief Brindaban Goswami, who won the Tezpur seat, here today. He was obviously dejected, as he had been projected by the party as the CM candidate.

Several top AGP leaders lost, the most notable being general secretary Hitendra Nath Goswami who was defeated by Rana Goswami of the Congress in Jorhat. The seat had been with the AGP since 1985, and Hitendra himself had predicted that the AGP would win 56 seats on its own and form the government with the help of allies.

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Other senior AGP leaders who lost include former Union minister BP Baishya in Guwahati (East), four-time MLA Zoii Nath Sharma (Sipajhar), Jagadish Bhuyan (Sadiya), Hiranya Konwar (Mahmara) and Israel Nanda (Tinsukia). Former AASU president Prabin Boro, who fought on an AGP ticket from Barama, also lost. ‘‘But the verdict is also not clearly in favour of the Congress,’’ claims Brindaban Goswami, pointing out that the Congress tally had come down from 71 in 2001 to only 52. ‘‘The Congress had an effective strength of 75 members with some NCP and independents joining the party after the 2001 elections. It will now have to seek the help of the BPPF(H) to stake claim to forming the government,’’ Goswami said.

Goswami, who reached Guwahati tonight from his hometown Tezpur, said the AGP would analyse the results ‘‘in the next two or three days’’. The AGP chief who had contested two seats, Tezpur and Barchalla, won Tezpur, losing to Tanka Bahadur Rai of the Congress in the latter. Several stalwarts of the allies of the AGP have also lost. They include Pramode Gogoi (CPI), Atul Bora and Pulakesh Barua (Trinamul Gana Parishad), and Holiram Terang (ASDC).

But among those who have won despite all odds include former MP Keshab Mahanta, who won from Kaliabor despite a massive division of votes of the regional party due to a split. Another such winner is Girindra Kumar Barua, who retained Nagaon despite former chief minister and AGP(P) president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta joining the fray.

There is no need for a non-Congress chief minister. There is no doubt Congress will form government… I don’t know who will be the chief minister. I’m happy we have been able to bring (Congress) back to power
Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on the party’s victory