March 29: His formula for success has been simple: get noticed. More importantly, get noticed by the right people.

So it was that the then chief minister Hiteswar Saikia first noticed the firebrand student leader when he waved a black flag at him and courted arrest in Guwahati.

The rest, as they say, is history, as stunt after stunt took him up the rungs of the Congress political ladder.

In the decade since his dramatic foray into politics in 1994, Rekibuddin Ahmed ? the 31-year-old Assam Youth Congress president ? has evolved into one of the biggest showmen of the party in the state.

From gheraoing Pramod Mahajan at Guwahati airport to getting involved in a scuffle with NCP leader P.A. Sangma and his supporters ? again at the airport ? he has staged numerous such shows to propel his political career.

Not too long ago, he sprang yet another surprise by bringing on stage Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa?s brother Ajoy Rajkhowa and the outfit?s commander-in-chief Paresh Barua?s brother Bimal Baruah at a Youth Congress rally. Though his detractors were quick to dismiss the development as yet another ?Rekib-gimmick?; it heralded a chapter of congenial relations between the first families of Dispur and Ulfa.

?You may call him a stuntman. But remember it is this brand of politics which is bringing him rich dividends,? said a close aide of Ahmed, Iftikar Yunis.

Even his detractors agree. They add that it was the ?hungama? he created in the recent plenary session of the party at Hyderabad for bringing Rahul Gandhi on stage that helped him get a party nomination for the Chaygaon Assembly constituency at the cost of sitting legislator Rana Goswami and senior minority leader Imran Shah.

?Electoral politics is a different ball game. Here, often the right noises are not heard... political gimmicks may pull the crowd, but not necessarily votes,? pointed out Shah. To pull off an electoral victory, rather than fiery speeches and political showmanship, Ahmed has to display political maturity and shrewdness, he said. More so, in a constituency with a complex demography and varied problems.

Erosion is a major problem in this mainly agrarian constituency. So far, 25 villages have been washed away along the vulnerable 9-km stretch from Panikheti to Bagmara.

Fortunately for Ahmed, other than erosion ? and, of course, unemployment ? development issues have not yet caught the imagination of the electorate here in a big way. That, however, does not mean the people here do not want development.

?The constituency has seen the preliminary stages of development. So there is no anti-incumbency wave. The foreigner issue and scrapping of the IM (DT) Act by the Supreme Court have taken centrestage,? said Juran Ali, a local resident.

The mixed bag of a 60,000-strong religious minority, over 45,000 caste Hindu Assamese, over 25,000 tribal and 5,000 Bengali Hindu voters, makes the electoral battle complex.

It will be interesting to see if Ahmed can prevent the Assam United Democratic Front from making inroads into the Congress? minority votebank. The nascent party was formed on the issue of the Congress failing to protect the controversial migrants act in court.

Ahmed?s main opponent here is seasoned warhorse Kamala Kalita of the AGP. Before losing out in the 2001 Assembly elections, Kalita, a doctor by profession, had been elected from this constituency thrice.

But there is opposition from within too, as supporters of Goswami are none too happy with the denial of a party ticket to their leader. Ahmed needs to have them by his side.

Perhaps another clever and crucial stunt is on the anvil.