Cong. sure of win in Dibrugarh

By Barun Das Gupta

DIBRUGARH, SEPT. 15. In the run-up to the Assembly elections this May, the BJP was looking upon the Dibrugarh seat, which has a large number of Hindi and Bengali speaking people, as being as good as won.

But the gunning down of the BJP candidate, Mr. Jayanta Dutta, by suspected ULFA militants led to the countermanding of the election.

Much water has flown down the Brahmaputra in the four months since then. So much so that the same party, in inviting scribes to a press conference, pathetically seeks their help to ``inspire the venture'' (that is, the battle for the election to be held next Thursday).

It is a nine-cornered contest. Apart from Congress' Dr. Kalyan Gogoi, there are BJP's Mr. Ajit Chaliha, NCP's Mr. Ajoy Barua, and six other candidates belonging to Samajvadi Party, Rashtriya Janta Dal, CPI(ML), Trinamul Gana Parishad, Assam Gana Sangram Parishad and the little known Assam Shiv Sena.

The RJD, TGP and Gana Sangram Parishad candidates have already called it a day. However, since they decided to ``withdraw'' only after the last date for wthdrawal, technically they are still in the fray.

Only the posters and placards of the Congress and the BJP are visible. There is no campaigning worth the name by any other candidate.

Dr. Gogoi, who won the seat in the 1996 elections also, says that he is not worried about the result - which is as good as settled in his favour.

``I am only concerned about the margin of victory'', he says. Last time, he defeated his AGP rival by over five thousand votes. This time around he expects the margin to cross the 40,000 mark.

``I am campaigning solely on the issue of development: improving the Assam Medical College here, cleaning up the clogged sewers of the city which cause flooding after every downpour, dredging the accumulated silt in the Brahmaputra which flows by the town and repairing what may be called apologies for roads'', he says.

Also, early construction of the rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra at Bogibeel. ``Unfortunately, Miss Mamata Banerjee, as Railway Minister, gave us a raw deal by not taking up the construction of the bridge in right earnest'', he deplores.

Irrespective of the Congress claims, BJP has not abandoned hope. A party worker actively campaigning says: ``One should not write us off.'' He believes that the Hindi-speaking voters will be fully in their favour, while the majority of the Bengali voters would also support his party.

Of the 1.02 lakh voters, Ahoms constitute the largest segment (37,000), followed by Bengalees (26,000), Assamese caste Hindus (12,000) and Hindi-speaking people (10,000). Tea garden workers, however, number only about 7000.

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Section  : Other States
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