GUWAHATI: Congress, despite being the biggest opposition party in the state assembly, drew a blank in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) election with party insiders squarely blaming senior party leaders for skipping the campaign trail.
PCC president Bhupen Bora was the lone warrior in most of the campaign rallies, while rival BJP deployed its top guns starting from CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his cabinet colleagues.
Congress heavyweight leaders left party candidates in the lurch, which party insiders said led to its biggest-ever debacle in the GMC polls. While senior Congressman and leader of opposition, Debabrata Saikia, opened some of the campaign offices initially, other big leaders like Pradyut Bordoloi, Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain were not visible during most of the campaign rallies. Former Assam PCC chief Ripun Bora resigned from the party when the campaign was at its peak.
“There are no Congress MLAs in the assembly segments that fall in the GMC jurisdiction. Congress workers were expecting a more vigorous campaign to make an impression in this municipal election but ultimately, the Assam Congress heavyweightgs were not visible in most of the campaigns,” a Congress insider said.
Congress even struggled to field candidates in many of the wards and some the candidates did not have grassroots connection. The party contested in 54 out of 60 wards.
“Congress gave tickets to retired teachers and people from different walks of life who had contributed to society. It’s true that many of them lacked political experience to win elections,” admitted Assam PCC general secretary Apurba Bhattacharjee. He, however, said 52.8% turnout in the GMC election was a clear indication that people of Guwahati do not have faith in the ruling government.
Bhattacharjee, however, clarified that Gaurav Gogoi is the Pradesh Returning Officer for party election in Tamil Nadu and focussing in the south. He said Congress parliamentarian Bordoloi was busy in Delhi and his constituency Nagaon, like Rakibul in his home constituency.
Congress sources said not only the big leaders were missed, but important Congress leaders from the city like Ashima Bordoloi, who was a contender for the mayor’s post in 2013, left the party just before the election. Nevertheless, Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said the Guwahatians have given a last chance to the BJP to translate their words into deeds.
“Maybe voters wanted to give a chance to the BJP because anyway their government will be in power in Assam for the next four years. We hope CM Himanta Biswa Sarma will be able to provide drinking water to the Guwahati residents in June, as he promised during the campaign,” said Borah. Drinking water crisis has been the biggest issue in the GMC areas where only about 30% of the households have piped water connection.
The last elected GMC executive body was formed by the Congress in 2013, though by a narrow margin. But following BJP’s victory in 2016 assembly polls, the saffron party captured the GMC as Congress was reduced to a minority in the GMC.
