Denied ticket, Duliajan MLA to go it alone in polls

Dibrugarh: Denying Duliajan MLA Amiya Gogoi a ticket might prove to be costly for Congress. The four-time MLA, who will contest as an Independent this time, is a formidable adversary for the ruling party.

Amiya was one of the few sitting Congress legislators who were overlooked by the party in favour of new faces. The veteran politician, who holds considerable power over voters, won for the first time in the 1985 polls which saw other Congress candidates suffering heavy defeats at the hands of Independents who later went on to form Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) under the leadership of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. That election was a forgettable one for Congress as it was reduced to 25 seats from 91.

Amiya went on to win the 1991 and 1996 polls with impressive margins. In 2001, she tasted her first defeat at the hands of BJP rival Rameshwar Teli. In the next election, in 2006, the party replaced her with newcomer Dilip Boruah, but the decision proved to be a mistake after he lost heavily.

The party corrected itself by naming Amiya as its candidate in 2011 and she responded by defeating Teli by a margin of 3,336 votes.

The other candidates in the fray in Duliajan include Terosh Gowala (BJP), Dhruba Jyoti Gogoi of Congress, Sunil Tanti (CPI-ML), Anjali Senapati (Jan Congress), Jhuma Debnath (Shiv Sena), and Independents Ramesh Chandra Phukan, Probin Hazarika, Jatin Konwar, Hiranya Sonowal and Isaq Karkoria.

The constituency, comprising urban and rural voters mostly living in middle, upper-middle class and upscale colonies, will see an intense triangular contest among BJP, Congress and Amiya. Though BJP is hoping for a split in Congress votes between Amiya and party candidate Dhruba Jyoti Gogoi, the going won't be as easy for the saffron party as it would wish. Many BJP supporters have openly expressed resentment over the choice of Gowala, an outsider, as the party's candidate for the seat. Gowala, who recently left AGP to join BJP, unsuccessfully contested from the Lahowal constituency twice in 2006 and 2011. In 2006, he was defeated by Congress heavyweight Prithibi Majhi by a margin of 10,484 votes. In 2011, he finished third behind Majhi and BJP's Ranjit Konwar.

"We are going to witness a tight contest. Every vote will matter this time. The entry of Amiya Gogoi in the contest will complicate matters for the Congress candidate as both of them belong to the Ahom community. A split in votes will certainly help the BJP candidate who is a former student leader of the tea community. At the same time, he is an outsider. The presence of other influential candidates from the tea community like Isaq Karkoria (general secretary of Assam Tea Workers' Union) and Sunil Tanti will make it difficult to keep the tea community voters together," said Krishna Chetia, a voter from Duliajan.

In the seven assembly elections held in Duliajan so far, Congress has won four times, BJP twice and Janata Party once.