NEW DELHI, Nov 17 - A group of Congressmen from Assam has landed in the national capital to demand removal of APCC president Ripun Bora and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Debabrata Saikia.
The group of Congressmen, backed by an influential leader and MLA, has coincided their tour with the winter session of the Parliament, when most of the top party leaders are expected to be in the capital. AICC general secretary in-charge Harish Rawat, however, is out of town and is unlikely to return until later this week.
The Assam Congress MLAs, who are arriving in batches, included Wazed Ali Choudhury, MR Mondol, AK Alam, Ajanta Neog, Nandita Das, Roseline Tirkey, Nurul Huda and Jakir Sikdar, sources said.
The two-point target of these leaders includes removal of Bora as Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president. They are supporting former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for the post, besides floating the idea of appointment of two working presidents to assist Gogoi.
The group is further pressing for removal of Debabrata Saikia as the CLP leader, while projecting former State minister Ajanta Neog for the post.
Saikia, who has backing of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, is also camping in Delhi monitoring the developments. When contacted, he declined to comment, but said that he has also come to know about the arrival of the MLAs. He clarified that he has come to Delhi to attend a meeting of the AICC convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Meanwhile, sources in the All India Congress Committee told this newspaper that there is little possibility of change of PCC president in Assam at this moment.
In the running for the APCC president�s post are Bhupen Bora and Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi. Both the leaders are lobbying hard for the post and are in touch with senior AICC leaders.
However, given the priority over the political developments in Maharashtra and the ensuing Parliament session, there is little possibility of the AICC turning its eyes on Assam where the assembly elections are due in 2021.
