Congress leader faces protest from party workers in Assam’s Samaguri

Congress workers in Assam’s Samaguri protested against party leader Pranjal Ghatowar and he could not campaign for the party's candidate for the Assembly seat which is heading for bypoll next week.

Pranjal is the son of senior Congress leader and former minister Paban Singh Ghatowar.

He went to Samaguri to campaign for Congress nominee Tanzil Hussain; however, the workers demonstrated against Ghatowar and raised slogans against him. They insisted that Ghatowar should leave the place immediately.

The incident unfolded on Friday, late at night in Samaguri. According to party sources, the supporters were irked with Pranjal Ghatowar due to the news that broke out a few days ago that he might join BJP along with his father Paban Singh Ghatowar.

The contest in Samaguri between BJP and Congress has become very interesting. A total of five Assembly seats will be contested for in the by-elections on November 13 and except Samaguri, BJP and its allies have been holding rest of the four seats.

According to pollsters, due to the dominance of Muslim voters in the Samaguri seat, Congress has an edge over the BJP here.

BJP fielded candidates for three seats—Dholai, Samaguri and Behali.

Diplu Ranjan Sarma has been given ticket in Samaguri while Diganta Ghatowar and Nihar Ranjan Das will fight for BJP in Behali and Dholai Assembly segments respectively.

BJP’s two allies—Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) are contesting polls in Bongaigaon and Sidli Assembly constituencies.

CM Sarma recently launched a scathing attack on Congress MP and former minister Rakibul Hussain alleging that the latter gave government jobs through backdoors during his tenure as minister in the state.

He said, “Rakibul Hussain himself acknowledged that he had been given government jobs while he was the minister in Assam during the Congress regime. However, a minister is not capable of giving jobs to anyone and hence, Hussain must be interrogated by the police on his claim.”

The Chief Minister further said that once the elections are over, the police will act against the Congress MP.

“I have asked the police to interrogate Rakibul Hussin after the by-elections,” he stated.