© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Days after he was denied a ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, sitting Barpeta MP Abdul Khalque resigned from the Congress on Friday, the latest high-profile exit from the Assam party in recent weeks.
In his resignation letter, Khaleque, who has been part of the Congress for 25 years, blamed the Assam party president (Bhupen Borah) and AICC general secretary in-charge of the state (Jitendra Singh Alwar).
“Of late, the party has taken a strange route where people-centric issues have taken a back seat. To safeguard democracy, the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and oneness. But unfortunately, over a period of time, I feel that the attitude and approach taken by the party’s state president and AICC general secretary in-charge have ruined the prospect of the party in Assam,” Khaleque wrote.
So far, in the two lists announced by it for seats across the country, the Congress has only dropped two sitting MPs, Khaleque being one of them, apart from an MP in Kerala. The Congress’s other two MPs from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi and Pardyut Bordoloi, have got tickets, from Jorhat and Nagaon, respectively.
While the Congress fielded Deep Bayan from the Barpeta seat held by Khaleque, the Dhubri constituency that Khaleque was eyeing has gone to Congress Samaguri MLA Rakibul Husain. Khaleque wanted to shift to Dhubri because of change in the demography of the Barpeta constituency following last year’s delimitation exercise.
However, while Khaleque could not get a seat of his choice, Gogoi was allowed to move to Jorhat after his previous constituency also saw changes after delimitation.
Before being elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019, Khaleque had been a two-time MLA from Jania constituency.
After delimitation, minority voters are no longer expected to play a role in the Barpeta seat, as multiple minority-dominated areas from it have been transferred to the Dhubri constituency, which is what Khaleque sought.
Sources said Khaleque had written to Alwar earlier this month, before the candidate list was released, expressing his displeasure over the functioning of the party, and alleging that Hussain had been decided as a candidate from Dhubri even before the screening process by the party’s state and central election committees.
The Congress is also facing trouble from the ally front in Assam. While it is part of a 15-party United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA), the Congress has so far shared only one seat with an ally, Dibrugarh, from where the Assam Jatiya Parishad’s Lurinjyoti Gogoi will contest.
The Congress has announced it will contest 12 of the 14 seats in the state, with a decision regarding only Lakhimpur yet to be taken.
Other UOFA parties such as the Trinamool Congress and CPI(M), who are also part of the INDIA bloc, have already announced candidates from 4 and 1 seat, respectively.
On Friday, the Aam Aadmi Party, another UOFA and INDIA bloc member, lashed out at the Congress. Having announced three candidates in Assam earlier, before any other party, the AAP said it was withdrawing its Guwahati candidate, state president Bhaben Choudhury, “for the sake of Opposition unity”, and challenged the Congress to reciprocate.
The AAP said the Congress should withdraw its candidates from Dibrugarh and Sonitpur constituencies, the two other seats where the AAP has fielded candidates. “If the Congress does not withdraw its candidates, it will be clear that the party is contesting Dibrugarh and Sonitpur to ensure victory for the BJP,” the party stated.
Congress state chief Bhupen Borah said Friday that talks were on with allies, and a clear picture would emerge only when the filing of nominations begins.
