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BEYOND THE NEWS
Congress
list throws up new CM aspirant
Neerja Chowdhury
New Delhi,
April 21: IF THERE is a political message in the list of candidates
released by Congress for the Assam polls, it is that lottery king
M.K. Subba has emerged stronger than ever and that Paban Singh Ghatowar
may emerge as much of a chief ministerial candidate as Tarun Gogoi,
if the party emerges victorious.
The list indicates
the power behind Ghatowar, that is Subba, who has had his way more
than any other one person in getting tickets for his supporters.
Subba, a Congress MP from Tezpur, has moved in tandem with Ghatowar
and they have managed to secure 40 tickets between themselves.
On the face of it, Subba has managed to take along Tarun Gogoi,
Assam PCC chief with him. Subba’s brother, Sanjay Raj Subba,
who has looked after his brother’s lottery business and has
been a Delhi resident, has been given a ticket from Naoboicha.
Partymen say
he has not visited Assam for decades. Ghatowar’s wife, Jibantara
Ghatowar, has been fielded from Moran, cutting out a sitting MLA.
Agitated partymen have questioned the basis on which Karunakaran’s
daughter was axed in Kerala and relatives of Subba and Ghatowar
accommodated.
Subba himself dismisses all this as much ado about nothing. ‘‘They
are not my candidates. They are all party candidates,’’
he said. ‘‘The list is a very good one.’’
As for the
chief ministerial candidate, the MP who runs a successful lottery
business said, ‘‘Ninety per cent, it will be Tarun Gogoi.
Normally, the person who leads the party is the natural choice for
CM, unless there is last-minute resistance to his candidature, in
which case the decision will be left to the Congress president.’’
The last three
years have seen the rise of M.K. Subba, a Nepali settled in Assam,
in Congress politics of Assam. His candidature for the Lok Sabha
was resisted by leaders such as Manmohan Singh and A.K. Antony last
time but despite that he got the party ticket.
Partymen say
that Subba has moved into 1 Talkatora Road, a house he was allotted
after the 1999 elections, with the hope it will bring him luck.
When allotted first, he had not moved in, preferring to stay at
his farmhouse near Delhi. He gave his house to Ajit Jogi.
Jogi became
Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh while staying at 1 Talkatora Road.
After he quit, the Congress president is believed to have requested
Subba to give the house to Mohsina Kidwai. But he chose to move
in himself, thinking if the house proved lucky for Jogi, maybe it
could prove so for him. Subba of course, dismisses all this as ‘‘newspaper
gossip’’.
It is significant
that the Congress list was released in New Delhi and not in Guwahati.
Many Congressmen are agitated with the names finally released today
and feel that it will spawn a large number of rebel candidates.
As it is, NCP’s
P.A. Sangma is camping in Assam to welcome all those denied tickets.
Then there is Matang Singh, former MP from Assam expelled from the
Congress. He too is expected to field Independents who can cut into
Congress votes. The Congress list also has half a dozen candidates
who have serious cases going against them.
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