Kharge, Priyanka to Campaign in Assam's Barpeta, Dhubri to Push Party's Prospects

New Delhi: The Congress is set to push the party’s prospects in northeastern Assam where party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Priyanka Gandhi will campaign in key seats like Barpeta and Dhubri on April 27 and May 1 respectively. “Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge will campaign in Barpeta on April 27. Priyanka Gandhi will campaign in Dhubri on May 1. We are confident of winning both the seats,” AICC general secretary in-charge Jitendra Singh told ETV Bharat.

The Barpeta seat had become controversial after the Congress named state Seva Dal chief Deep Gayan as its candidate, upsetting ally CPI-M, which wanted the seat as part of a 16-party alliance called the United Opposition Forum. As the Congress refused to withdraw its candidate, the CPI-M also announced its nominee Manoranjan Talukdar making it a triangular contest against Asom Gana Parishad leader Phani Bhushan Chowdhury, who is the joint nominee of the ruling alliance.

Sitting Congress MP from Barpeta Abdul Khaleque was denied a ticket this time, following which he resigned from the party, but later withdrew his resignation letter at the behest of party chief Kharge.

Dhubri, a Muslim-majority area, has been a traditional Congress stronghold, but this time the grand old party has fielded Rakibul Hussain against former ally AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal. “Ajmal had been hand in glove with the BJP. That is why we decided to part ways with him after the last state polls. He is still trying to polarise the election, but we are confident of countering that,” Jitendra Singh said.

In the 2019 national polls, Congress contested all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, but could win only three seats Kaliabor, Nowgong and Barpeta with 35.5 per cent vote share. The BJP had contested 10 seats and won nine seats with a vote share of 36 per cent. BJP ally AGP contested three seats, but could not win any seats.

“We are going to increase the number of our seats and vote share this time. From whatever I have sensed on the ground, the voters are angry with the BJP and there is a strong undercurrent in favour of the opposition,” said Jitendra Singh.

Recently, both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi campaigned for party candidates in Jorhat and Dibrugarh seats. In Jorhat Congress leader Gaurab Gogoi contested against BJP’s Topon Gogoi. The party has given the Dibrugarh seat to ally Assam Jatiya Parishad whose leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi is pitted against BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal, former chief minister and AAP’s Manoj Dhanowar.

On April 27, party chief Kharge will hold a press conference in the state capital Guwahati where the Congress nominee Mira Borthakur Goswami is pitted against BJP’s Bijuli Kalita Medhi.

Over the past months, the Assam Congress lost a few MLAs to the BJP indicating discontent in the local team, but state unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah claimed the party was running a strong campaign on the ground. “I recently campaigned in the Barpeta and Nagaon seat where our nominees Deep Bayan and Pradyut Bordoloi are set to win. The people are miffed with the BJP”s CAA push and are responding to our promise of jobs,” said Borah.