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| Panchayat poll candidates from Kamrup district submit their nomination papers in Guwahati on Saturday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Dec. 17: Denied a ticket for the panchayat polls, a Congress leader of Dibrugarh district in Assam committed suicide last night. In his suicide note, he accused the party leadership of playing “nasty politics”.
Police suspect Tonen Gohain, the 32-year-old Congress councillor of Jerai Anchalik Parishad under Chabua Assembly constituency, consumed pesticide.
His body was found near a pond behind his motor-parts shop in Kanjikhowa along National Highway 37 near Chabua this morning.
In the note found in the front pocket of his shirt, Gohain said he had become a victim of “nasty” Congress politics. The note in Assamese was addressed to his party colleagues. He said he was taking the extreme step so that other members do not become victims of similar politics.
Gohain was a strong contender for the post of anchalik president, but was allegedly denied a ticket because of opposition from local legislator and Congress leader Raju Sahu, sources said.
Deep resentment also prevailed among senior Congress leaders of Dhubri district over PCC general secretary Anil Reza’s instruction empowering two Independent legislators, Mohibul Hoque and Motiur Rahman Mondal, to lead the party’s election campaign in Gouripur and Mancachar Assembly constituencies respectively.
Senior party leaders of the district alleged that the instruction had totally bypassed them and was against the long-term interests of the party.
The Congress, however, may draw consolation from the fact that the situation is no better in other parties.
AUDF leaders are engaging in streetfights almost everyday. Party insiders said Dhubri legislator Rasool Hoque physically assaulted the president of the district unit of the party’s youth wing, Jamser Talukdar, in front of party president Badruddin Ajmal during a meeting in Guwahati last night.
Incidentally, Hoque’s brother, Mohibul, has been assigned by the Congress to lead its campaign in Gouripur.
The assault took place soon after disgruntled AUDF members manhandled Dhubri unit vice-president Samsool Haque last evening.
The scene was no different in the Dhubri unit of the BJP as leaders locked the party office, protesting alleged discrepancies in allotment of party tickets.
As the Congress, the AUDF and the BJP fought among themselves, the AGP allied with its breakaway faction, the AGP (P), in some seats and tied up with the BJP and Left parties in some others.
However, this “grand alliance” has angered a section of the party.
In Darrang and Nagaon districts, the AGP has allied with the AGP (P), while in many panchayats in Lower Assam, it has entered into an electoral understanding with the AUDF.