Cong gives ticket to turncoat Jayanta Bora for Behali bypoll

Guwahati (The Uttam Hindu): The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has announced the candidate for the Behali Assembly constituency in the upcoming bypoll in Assam. Congress named Jayanta Bora as the party's nominee to contest elections in the Behali Assembly seat. He quit the BJP and joined the Congress a few days ago. The Behali seat became a point of contention in the united opposition forum of 15 parties in Assam, which compelled Congress leader Bhupen Borah to resign as President due to differences in seat-sharing.

By-elections in five Assembly constituencies -- Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon, and Sidli were due following the elections of five legislators in the Lower House of the Parliament in this year's Lok Sabha polls. Congress has already announced candidates in four Assembly seats and following the announcement of the candidate in Behali, the grand old party is set to contest bypolls in all five Assembly constituencies. However, CPI-ML, a constituent of the united opposition forum, strongly demanded to vacate the Behali Assembly seat for them. Meanwhile, in a letter to the General Secretary of the Assam Sonmilita Morcha (ASOM), Bhupen Borah, on Wednesday, clarified that a proposal to form a five-member committee to choose the Behali nominee was discussed at a meeting on October 18 in Guwahati that was attended by prominent Congress leaders, including the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the Secretary in-charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh Alwar.

Borah backed this coalition maneuver because the CPI-M (L) had claimed the seat. The Congress leader mentioned that the AICC had rejected the committee's recommendation. He said, "I have been trying to persuade the five-member committee to re-consider its recommendation, but they have refused to do so and are demanding immediate confirmation from AICC." "Under the tremendous pressure on me to make the decision enforced, which I am not able to execute, I have no alternative other than tendering my resignation as President of the opposition unity in Assam," Borah said in the letter. The State Congress Chief also asserted that opposition unity was stressed by Rahul Gandhi during his yatra in Assam and at the Northeast Congress Coordination Committee meeting at Meghalaya earlier this year.