Cong faces rebellion in Titabor, MLA goes solo after ticket denial

GUWAHATI: Titabor, once the centre of state politics under the Congress govt and represented by former CM Tarun Gogoi from 2001 to 2016, is witnessing a rebellion within the Congress fold.Sitting MLA Bhaskar Jyoti Baruah quit the party on Monday and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate after being denied a Congress ticket. Baruah, who is considered to be close to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, believes this may be one of the reasons he was denied a ticket. However, he said he had approached the CM only for the implementation of govt schemes and not for personal benefit. “The most unfortunate part is that despite being 100% corruption-free and despite my best efforts to implement govt schemes as an opposition MLA, I was denied a ticket. There was immense pressure on my family and me from the locals of my constituency to defy Congress high command’s decision, and that is why I collected my nomination papers yesterday and filed them today,” Baruah told TOI. He said he was denied the party ticket for another reason: Congress’s alleged tendency to think along caste and community lines.The BJP has fielded former All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (AATSA) president Dhiraj Gowala from Titabor, a Congress bastion with around 22% tea tribe voters. Congress sources said the party has fielded tea tribe leader Pran Kurmi to gain the support of tea garden voters.