Kabindra will develop borak

SILCHAR, Oct 13: Without applauding Rahul Gandhi’s apparently successful catch-them-young formula, the BJP has also decided to field younger candidates in the 2011 Assembly election, hinted party MP Kabindra Purkayastha from Silchar.

In an interview with The Sentinel, the veteran leader sarcastically confessed that 78 years of ago, he was not supposed to be thrown at the electoral battle-field. Rather he was to enjoy a retired life. “But situation was such that the party high command ordered me to compete in the last general election”, explained Purkayastha, who already announced that he had played his last election this time.

At 78, Purkayastha was still agile and physically fit. “But that’s not the point”, he argued. “Young generation should be given more preference,” he said. At the same time, he maintained that preferring younger candidates did not mean that veteran politicians will be neglected. In 2011 Assembly in Asom, the BJP candidates list would be a well-balanced one with both senior and junior faces, as the ‘bottomline’ would be an image as well as ‘winnability’ of the candidate.

Refuting the allegation that Asom BJP had neglected to take in the younger generation so far, Purkayastha said, Dr Rumi Nath, an out and out fresher in politics was nominated by the party in 2006 and she had won the election in the Barkhola constituency.

Commenting on the formation of the Cachar district unit of the party, Purkayastha said, nothing had been finalized yet as the party is concentrating on explaining its base in the district enrolling new members. Names of Partha Sarathi Chanda, Kirit Bhushan Purkayastha and Parimal Suklabaidya have come up for the post of district president till now, though he hoped, more names would be projected in due time.

Purkayastha said, during his present tenure as MP, he would mainly thrust on the completion of two national projects namely the Silchar-Lumding broad gauge and East-West Corridor. “I will go to any length to get these stalled projects get going again,” he added. THE SENTINEL