LK Advani to campaign for BJP in Assam

Assam Lok Sabha Election

GUWAHATI, March 22: In spite of the confidence shown by AGP-BJP alliance candidates, namely Bijoya Chakravarty and Ramen Deka at various meetings that are going to come out victorious at the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, opposition leader and BJP bigwig LK Advani is not quite impressed . According to sources, LK Advani will be visiting Asom on March 25 and on the same day he will visit Kheroni, Diphu, Karimganj and Silchar where he would campaign in support of party candidates from the said areas. On March 26, Advani will be visiting Sepa in Arunachal, Tinsukia and Sibsagar to lend his support to the BJP candidates in these areas.

The sources further said that since BJP’s chances of winning in Diphu, Silchar, Jorhat, Karimganj are bright, Advani has taken a keen interest to lend his support to the candidates from these areas but the BJP stalwart is rather apprehensive about the political outcome with regard to the Guwahati and Mangaldoi constituencies and has decided to refrain from campaigning in these two constituencies as he is afraid that he might have to take the blame in the event of BJP suffering defeats in both these said constituencies.

It may be recalled that some AGP members are still dissatisfied over the Guwahati seat going to the BJP and as for the Mangaldoi, BJP State president Ramen Deka’s candidature has come in for a lot of flak especially from BJP grassroot workers in Darrang and Udalguri districts. And since the political situation is rather fluid in these two constituencies, Advani is not too keen on campaigning on behalf of the candidates contesting from the said constituencies.

According to sources, LK Advani is determined on maintaining a clean image and is therefore averse to campaigning in both the Guwahati And Mangaldoi constituencies.

Meanwhile, notwithstanding Advani’s campaign plans in the State and his current stand on the crises with regard to the Guwahati and Mangaldoi constituency seats, many upcoming and senior leaders of the State BJP such as Jayanta Kumar Das, Sasanka Jyoti Deka, Siddhartha Bhattacharjee, Manoj Phukan etc are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to ensure that BJP candidate Bijoya Chakravarty comes out triumphant at the forthcoming LS elections.

Interestingly, AGP’s Nurul Hussain and Ramendra Narrayan Kalita continue to maintain a grim silence on the BJP poll campaign strategies and are none too overt in expressing their support to Bijoya Chakravarty in spite of the fact that they are partners in the AGP-BJP alliance.

On the other hand, BJP State president and Mangaldoi candidate Ramen Deka’s fortunes have apparently reached their nadir. Aside from the support of a few relatively unknown party workers like Palit Bora, Ranjit Thakuria and Nabarun Medhi, Deka is having to wage a lone battle in the forthcoming LS polls this time around. THE SENTINEL