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Cong
final list delay may prove spoiler
Sanjiv Sinha
New Delhi,
April 20: THE Congress is in for some trouble in Assam because
of the excess delay in finalising its list of candidates for the
coming Assembly polls.
Things could
take a turn for the worse with some state leaders up in arms over
the selection process. The party’s Central Election Committee,
led by Sonia Gandhi, met on Monday to stamp its approval on the
list of candidates sent to it by the screening committee for Assam.
But four days
on, the final list is yet to be completed and announced. With April
23 being the last day for filing nominations, the party will have
little time left for the formalities amid the confusion and resentment
among grassroots workers. The list may perhaps be finalised tonight
and announced tomorrow.
The delay in
finalising the 126-candidate list, party sources said, could be
attributed to hectic last-minute lobbying by ‘‘vested
interests’’, coupled with objections of several MPs from
Assam over the questionable selection process of the state unit
election committee.
The Central
Election Committee had cleared 100 names when it met on Monday and
left the decision on 26 ‘‘controversial’’ seats
to AICC general-secretary in charge of the state Kamal Nath, PCC
chief Tarun Gogoi and CLP leader Sylvius Candopan.
But now there
are hints that last-minute changes are being made to the list of
100 names already finalised. This has triggered confusion within
the party rank and file.
Worse is the
cloud over the list of candidates because several senior state leaders
have protested the selection process, especially the entry of candidates
with criminal backgrounds.
Five party MPs
from the state — Ghulam Usmani, Madhav Rajbanshi, Nepal Das,
Rani Nara and Abdul Hamid — reportedly met Sonia yesterday
to complain against ‘‘large-scale bungling’’
in the selection. They complained of bribing in the selection by
the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC).
The MPs are
apparently upset that none was consulted before the candidates were
shortlisted for Assembly seats falling within their parliamentary
constituencies. This is a system that the party normally follows.
In fact, Usmani,
senior MP from Barpeta and an influential state Muslim leader, has
sent in his resignation from the chairmanship of the state unit’s
minority
cell. This is to protest being cold shouldered.
The MPs pointed
out how the entire list was ‘‘managed’’ by a
coterie of state leaders and how some MPs pushed in their nominees
into Assembly constituencies falling in their parliamentary seats.
They held up Tezpur MP M.K. Subba as an example. He not only pushed
in his supporters in his own constituency but also managed a ticket
for his brother, S.R. Subba, from Naoboicha Assembly segment, which
falls in the Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency of Rani Nara.
Even senior
leader and AICC secretary Bhubneswar Kalita’s candidature from
Rangiya has run into rough weather as also that of former MP Krip
Chaliha, who was supposed to take on Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta.
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