Gogoi offers to quit
Guwahati: A Modi wave coupled with anti-incumbency factor working against Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government ensured decimation of Congress at the hands of the BJP in Assam, compelling Tarun Gogoi to offer to quit as the chief minister.
“We have to accept that people of Assam are not happy with us for some reasons and they haven’t voted for us this time. We have to find out the reasons. I will submit resignation to Sonia Gandhi as per the party’s laid down norms. I am feeling bad over the defeat,” said Gogoi whose resignation has been demanded by winning BJP candidates like Bijoya Chakraborty and Rajen Gohain.
The Congress tally came down to three from seven in the 2009 polls.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won three seats wresting two seats from the ruling Congress while Independent candidate and former ULFA leader Naba Kumar Sarania won from Kokrajhar (ST) constituency, relegating the candidate of Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).
The BJP which won seven seats compared to four in 2009 made inroads in several Congress bastions in Assam, including Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Lakhimpur.
In Gauhati, Rahul Gandhi’s choice Congress candidate Manas Borah was defeated by a big margin by sitting BJP MP and former Union minister Bijoya Chakraborty.
The consolation for the Congress is the win of Tarun Gogoi’s son Gourav Gogoi in Kaliabor . Sushmita Dev of Congress wrested Silchar seat from the BJP while sitting Congress MP Biren Sing Engti retained Autonomous District seat.
In Dibrugarh, a Congress citadel, BJP candidate Rameswar Teli defeated five-time sitting MP and three-time Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar by 185,000 votes.
In Jorhat , BJP candidate Kamakhya Prasad Tasa defeated six-time sitting MP and former Union Minister Bijoy Krishna Handique by over 102,000 votes while state BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal humiliated Union Minister of state for Tribal Affairs Ranee Narah in Lakhimpur by a margin of about 300,000.
Independent candidate and former ULFA leader Naba Kumar Sarania snatched the seat from the BPF by a margin
of over 300,000 votes.
AIUDF snatched minorities-dominated Barpeta and Karimganj constituencies from Congress besides retaining Dhubri.
Among other winners of BJP are: Ram Prasad Sarmah (Tezpur), Rajen Gohain (Nowgong) and Ramen Deka (Mangaldoi).
BJP has snatched Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Jorhat from Congress and Tezpur. (AGP led by former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has drawn blank.