NEW DELHI: With only a few months ahead of the 2021 Assam Assembly elections, the opposition Congress is surely missing the presence of its state stalwart and longest serving state Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who passed away on November 23, to take on the ruling BJP.
Even though the Congress has many young leaders in the state to carry forward his legacy, including his son, the party would surely miss out on the political savvy of its tallest state leader, with no one to match his calibre in Assam politics.
The party, which is likely to go for an alliance with All India United Democratic Front, has only a few leaders who are expected to take on Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal and Himanta Bishwa Sarma, who was instrumental in installing the first BJP government in Assam.
The Congress has in its ranks young leaders like Debobrata Saikia, who is Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and also son of former Chief Minister Hiteshwar Saikia; Gaurav Gogoi, who is the son of Tarun Gogoi and a Lok Sabha MP; Ripun Bora, who is state unit President; and Sushmita Dev, who is President of All India Mahila Congress and daughter of another late Congress veteran Santosh Mohan Dev.
Party sources say that the Congress may consequently go into the Assembly polls without any chief ministerial candidate and only decide on the matter once the results are out.
The Congress wants to contest the coming elections on the issue of development and not get entangled in the BJP narrative of National Register of Citizens and other emotive issues.
Jitendra Singh, the Congress General Secretary in charge of Assam affairs, undertook a five-day tour of Assam to take stock of the political situation. “I drove from Cachar to Dima Hasao on the National Highway. The condition of this road was made a big election issue by the BJP in 2014 but they have failed miserably to remedy the situation. It took me over five hours to cover 40 km,” he alleged.
He said he also went to the Barak Valley area, Silchar and held meetings with state leaders and district committees office-bearers to gauge the public mind.
Sushmita Dev said that people were willing to bring back the Congress in the state. “The enthusiasm of the people and the Congress workers was encouraging.”
IANS