GUWAHATI, Aug 12 - Instead of hurting its prospects, the recent defection of many senior leaders from the Congress has provided the party with an opportunity to revamp itself, promote new faces and consolidate its base in the State, claimed former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune today, Gogoi said that the Congress party will now give more responsibilities to the youth leaders within the party�s organisational hierarchy. Fresh and young faces are also likely to get more prominence during allocation of tickets for the 2021 Legislative Assembly polls in the State.
�The leaders who have quit our party in recent times and joined the BJP are the ones who no longer have any mass base of their own. They had lost elections in recent times and their popularity is down.�
�Gautam Roy lost the last Assembly polls. Bhubaneswar Kalita was defeated in the recent Lok Sabha elections. All of them have lost ground and support of the people. They are no longer stalwarts,� said Gogoi.
He added, �Our party will in fact benefit from their decision to quit. They are opportunistic and power hungry. They lack commitment. They were manipulators. While in Congress, they enjoyed all the advantages and occupied prominent positions. Now that we are in the Opposition and have nothing to offer, they have left. Till the other day, BJP was accusing Gautam Roy of corruption. What will the BJP say now? The Congress party will be better off without such leaders as people who lack commitment are deserting our organisation.�
He said that Congress is only for those who believe in the party�s ideology and principles.
It is noteworthy that many senior Congress party leaders in Assam have defected to the BJP during recent weeks. Among them are former State Minister and six-time MLA Gautam Roy, former Rajya Sabha member and former State Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita, former Rajya Sabha member Santiuse Kujur, former three-time Tinsukia MLA Rajendra Prasad Singh and former State Youth Congress president Hiranya Bhuyan.
�Now we have got a free hand to promote new and young faces in the Congress party. The departure of such leaders has given us an opportunity to induct and promote fresh faces. In recent days, many youths have approached me expressing interest in joining our party. Many students from Assam studying in institutes like Delhi University have contacted me. If you go through history, you will see that whenever Congress faced any adversity, it was the new blood which facilitated the party to bounce back. This will happen again,� said Gogoi.
He added that the party in Assam will now give priority to the young leaders and workers within its fold.
�We will give prominence to young faces while allocating tickets for the 2021 Assembly polls. Similarly, youths will be offered more opportunity and responsibility in the party organisation. The major role in our party will now be played by the youths, while seniors like me will guide them,� said the three-time Chief Minister.
He said that Congress is likely to fight the forthcoming by-polls in four Assembly constituencies of the State on its own.
�Out of the four seats, we held one while the others were with the BJP. I believe we will be able to retain the one seat which was with us and also improve our position in the remaining three constituencies,� said Gogoi.
By-polls are to be held for the Sonari, Rangapara, Ratabari and Jania constituencies. These seats fell vacant after the legislators representing them got elected to the Lok Sabha in the recent parliamentary polls and resigned from the Assembly.
Kripanath Mallah (Ratabari constituency), Pallab Lochan Das (Rangapara) and Topon Kumar Gogoi (Sonari), all from the BJP, besides Abdul Khaleque of Congress (Jania constituency) vacated their Assembly seats after getting elected to the Lok Sabha.
Gogoi added that the Congress party will take up issues affecting various communities of Assam.
�It is a fact that the BJP is politically depriving a number of communities of the State, including the tea community and the Bengalis. Besides, the ruling party has failed to fulfil any of its pre-poll promises. We will go to the masses and remind them about these things,� Gogoi said.
