Ranee Narah

Guwahati, March 22: Internal bickering in the Assam Congress over the candidature of Ranee Narah from the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency has snowballed into a full-blown revolt with an MLA threatening to quit the party over the decision.

Majuli MLA Rajiv Lochan Pegu, who said he would resign from the Congress, could not be contacted, but one of his close aides said the legislator had left for Guwahati and would submit his resignation to the party’s state leadership tomorrow.

A Congress source said barring Ranee’s husband and Dhakukhana MLA Bharat Narah, Doomdooma MLA Durga Bhumij and Independent Bhuban Pegu, the six other MLAs from Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency are opposed to her candidature.

Seven of the nine Assembly segments in Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency belong to the Congress.

That all was not well within the party was also indicated by Raju Sahu, the party’s MLA from Chabua, which also falls under the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency.

He said a six-member MLA team would meet chief minister Tarun Gogoi and PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita tomorrow to express their grievances over Ranee’s candidature and decide on their future course of action.

Lochan Pegu and Raju Sahu are certainly part of the team. The other four are Ghana Buragohain, Sumitra Patir, Bolin Chetia and S.R. Subba, lottery baron Mani Kumar Subba’s younger brother and an associate member of the Congress.

The development was expected, since most party MLAs had even gone to Delhi to oppose Ranee’s candidature based on “feedback” from the grassroots against her and her strained relationship with Gogoi, who is understood to have opposed the decision till the end.

Ranee’s candidature has left the Gogoi camp, which had assured the AICC of bagging 10 seats on its own if its choice of candidates were fielded, embarrassed.

“This drama is natural. After all, Ranee’s detractors will use this opposition as a proof before the high command if the result goes against her. But efforts are on to resolve differences. Both Ranee and Bharat are in Delhi and they are also trying to sort out the differences,” a party insider said.

Such was the opposition to Narah’s candidature that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had to step in and approve of her.

“Though the Gogoi camp could get sitting Guwahati MP Kirip Chaliha axed as it could project two-time MLA Robin Bordoloi as an alternative, it could not convince the high command about the candidature of Bobeeta Sarma who had neither the electoral experience nor the reach of Ranee,” he said.

Gogoi tried to play down the development, though he said he had also heard about the resignation.

“I have not received anything formally from Pegu. Whenever a candidate is nominated, there is a little bit of resentment — not everybody is 100 per cent happy. But it is a temporary phase,” he said.

“Once a candidate is announced, there can be temporary unhappiness but eventually, all will rally for the official candidate. We will work together to ensure a candidate’s victory,” Gogoi said.