Storm & rain hit poll rallies in Dhubri

Dhubri: Storm and rain since last Saturday have disrupted election campaigning and badly affected the 15-day annual Ashoka Ashtami Mela in Dhubri, reports Bijoy Sharma.

The first poll event to be hit was a rally to be addressed by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma at Dhepdhepi in the Golokganj LAC on Saturday. The programme was cancelled after his helicopter could not fly and land because of inclement weather.

A poll meeting of Assam cabinet minister Jayanta Malla Barua was also called off for the same reason. On Tuesday, a BJP meeting at Chhagal Hati in Dhubri town had to be stopped midway as a storm, accompanied by srain, lashed the district.

Several meetings of Congress candidate Baby Begum and AIUDF candidate Nazrul Haque were also postponed.

An AIUDF worker from Dhubri, Hanif Ali, said the party’s open-air campaign had suffered heavily.

The weather has also hit the Ashoka Ashtami Mela, where traders said repeated rain and storms have damaged stalls and cut business.