GUWAHATI, April 9 � While the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are trying to bank on the anti-incumbency factor to wrest Dispur, East Guwahati and Jalukbari Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LACs) of the city, the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) is trying to use the anti-incumbency factor against the AGP in the West Guwahati LAC.
But the Congress, which won all but one � West Guwahati LAC � in the last Assembly elections, is however, confident of winning all the four LACs of the city. The steps taken up by the Congress regime for the development of the city have made the people capable of differentiate between the Guwahati 10 years back and the Guwahati today, said Pankaj Bora, chairman of the media cell of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).
The BJP however, claims that its planks of illegal migration-related demographic changes, non-completion of the National Register of Citizens and corruption in public life have won the hearts of the Guwahati voters.
Moreover, State spokesman of the party Tapan Choudhury said, the BJP has strengthened its organizational network and the Guwahati voters are expected to vote for the BJP this time as an alternative to the Congress and the AGP.
In matters of candidates also, the party is an advantageous position. Its candidate for the Dispur LAC Ranjit Rahang belongs to the Karbi community, its East Guwahati candidate Sidhartha Bhattacharyya has a family background and he is a senior advocate of the Gauhati High Court.
West Guwahati candidate of the BJP Monoj Ram Phookun is from a renowned family, while its Jalukbari candidate Pradyut Bora has a brilliant academic background. Bora, now a general secretary and whole time worker of the party's State committee, is an alumnus of the IIM, Ahmedabad. He was picked up by LK Advani and Arun Jaitley, Chodhury said.
The AGP, which had won the West Guwahati LAC during the last Assembly polls, is hopeful of win for all its candidates � former Minister Atul Bora in Dispur, former Mayor of Guwahati Queen Ojah in East Guwahati, MLA Ramendranarayan Kalita in West Guwahati and Monoj Saikia in Jalukbari.
AGP election general secretary Birendra Prasad Baishya told this newspaper that the anti-incumbency factor and the tainted image of the Congress would help AGP nominees in their electoral battles against the Congress nominees in the city constituencies.
However, BPF nominee for the West Guwahati LAC Dr Prasanna Malla Bujarbarua told this newspaper that he would be able to secure between 53,000 and 63,000 votes and wrest the seat from the AGP.
Bujarbarua is expecting to defeat his nearest rival BJP's Monoj Ram Phookun with a big margin.
APCC media cell chairman Pankaj Bora, talking to this newspaper, claimed that his party is getting good response from the city voters. He said that many things are yet to be done to turn Guwahati into a real metropolis. It is also a fact that the city, being the nerve centre of the NE region, is expanding at a very fast pace and its population is also growing at a fast pace. Despite all these constrictions, the efforts made by the State's Congress-led Government to develop the city are evident.
Various State and Central government-sponsored schemes have been undertaken, with the judicious use of funds, to solve the city's problems of drinking water shortage, flash flood, traffic congestion, etc. It is expected that the Guwahatians would not allow the process of such developmental activities to be stopped abruptly with the ouster of the Congress, Bora asserted.
The Congress has fielded Minister Akan Bora in Dispur, former Minister Robin Bordoloi in East Guwahati, former MLA Hemanta Talukdar in West Guwahati and Minister Himata Biswa Sarma in Jalukbari.
