TURA, Sep 29: The discontentment over allocation of party ticket for the Rajabala by-election appears to go beyond the NPP camp and may soon hit the Congress too, given the number of strong ticket aspirants.
The NPP is facing rebellion from its very own loyalist Mizanur Rahman Kazi, who was sidelined in the ticket allocation for a former Congress MLA, Abdus Saleh.
Mizanur is holding a public public rally on Friday to seek his supporters’ views about his candidature and whether to contest or withdraw from the race, something that appears to be a foregone conclusion for the MLA hopeful.
As far as the Congress is concerned there are two main aspirants — Hasina Yasmin Zaman, the widow of Azad Zaman (whose death necessitated the by-poll) and former MLA Ashahel D Shira.
Family and supporters of Azad Zaman are rooting for Hasina’s candidature given her late husband’s strong support base in Rajabala and the shock defeat he inflicted on then sitting legislator Ashahel D Shira and another heavyweight Abdus Saleh, a two-term MLA from Mahendraganj who had to switch constituencies owing to the delimitation of seats in 2013.
But with Azad no longer in the political equation, the limelight has once again cast its glare on Ashahel D Shira, who overcame a strong NPP election campaign to emerge triumphant as the Congress candidate in this year’s Garo Hills Autonomous District Council elections.
Shira first tested the political waters in the 2008 Assembly elections, unsuccessfully. He returned in 2013 to snatch victory as an Independent defeating both Abdus Saleh, Azad Zaman and even Congress heavyweight and party ticket holder Sayedullah Nongrum, who was relegated to an also ran.
Now, with two highly influential aspirants, Azad’s widow and Ashahel D Shira, the Congress faces a dilemma and the prospect of a rebellion, whichever way the ticket goes.
On one side it will face the heat of Shira and his supporters who, energised by his recent victory in the MDC elections, will seek nothing short of the party affiliation for their leader in the ensuing contest.
On the other hand, the Congress also has to deal with the emotional nature of support wielded by the family of Azad Zaman, something which continues to run deep among many of his supporters given his premature death in harness.
And history has proven many a time, right from the 1980 general elections when a harassed Indira Gandhi returned to power defeating the ruling Janata Party and Rajiv Gandhi’s thumping majority in December 1984 following the assassination of his mother and Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, that emotions can hold sway of the election outcome.
There is, of course, the rare occasional flip also, like the by-elections to Selsella two years ago, necessitated by the death of Congress MLA Clement Marak, when the seat was usurped by the NPP candidate, Ferlin CA Sangma.
