Gogoi gets second term
Congress becomes the first party since 1972 to retain power in Assam which makes a transition from single-party govt. to coalition rule.

North East News Agency

True to the predictions of Exit Polls (barring one conducted by a newly launched news channel), Congress has emerged as the single largest party in Assam Assembly elections and Tarung Gogoi has been sworn in as the Chief Minister for second consecutive term. Though the opposition parties put up a decent fight, it was not enough to snatch Dispur from the Congress.

Despite loosing 17 seats than the last election, Congress leaders were upbeat after the results were declared. They were not at all unhappy over the fact that with this fractured verdict Assam made a transition from single-party government to coalition rule. Rather they seemed to quite happy about the poll outcome. Their facial expressions were telling that they were expecting even a worse verdict than this.

Of the five states that went for polls stakes were at the maximum for the Congress in Assam. To maintain its hegemony in national politics the party had to win the State. But the task was not easy. Apart from anti-incumbency, the party was fighting many odds in the run up to the elections. Known as the vote bank of the Congress party, religious minorities formed a separate political outfit to make a dent at the chances of the Congress. The party was also in trouble because of intense infighting. The task became even harder as the main opposition party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) formed an alliance with the Left parties and termed it as a revival of the Third Front concept. Master tactician the late Pramod Mahajan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also camped in Assam for more than a month to enhance his party’s prospect. BJP under the leadership of the late leader mainly concentrated to win more seats in the tea belt of the State, another traditional vote bank of the Congress.

The election scenario was such that it encouraged every party to sense a chance to form the next government or at least to play the role of king maker. And after the elections were over, AGP appeared confident of forming the next government. The party was so sure to come to power after a gap of five years that it had reportedly prepared the list of ministerial candidates and started talking with its allies on formulation of a common minimum programme.

On the other hand, BJP and the newly formed Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) getting readied to play the role of king makers. BJP was confident that to install a non-Congress Government in the State, regional parties would have to seek their support. AUDF was also expecting to play the same kind of role. AUDF leadership became more optimistic when Tarun Gogoi made a statement categorically ruling out any possibilities of joining hands with the new outfit to form the government. This encouraged his party colleagues who nursed the hopes of becoming the Chief Minister. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhubaneswar Kalita wasted no time to rush to Delhi to inform party high command that it would be suicidal to alienate the religious minorities and he was capable of bringing AUDF to party’s fold.

But all the calculations and expectations came to a naught once the results were declared. While the ambition of political parties and leaders received a serious jolt, Tarun Gogoi, who was expected to loose more, quite interestingly emerged stronger than ever. Though his party has won lesser number of seats this time, it could not make a dent in Tarun Gogoi’s stature as a leader.

Significantly, with 53 seats, Congress is all set to dictate terms in the formation of the new ministry. The new found strength of the Congress can be judged from the fact that Hagrama faction of Bodoland People’s Progressive Democratic Front (PPDF) with 12 MLAs had to virtually leave the issue of ministerial berths to the Chief Minister. Because the party realized that at present the Congress has no dearth of allies. It can form a government without PPDF’s support.

Same is the case of AUDF. The newly formed party was banking on Congress’ dependence on minority support. It was expecting a situation where the Congress would have no other alternatives but to seek their support. But the emergence of PPDF made the calculations all wrong. Moreover, the party was expecting to weaken the Congress in its traditional strongholds by division of votes. It did the task well. But the party leadership did not realize that the Congress will gain most by division of votes in upper Assam. In upper Assam, division of votes among the opposition parties, especially between the two factions of AGP helped the ruling party immensely in retaining Assam.

In this election, the Congress had made another significant gain which even some of its own party men did not expect. The party has proved that it can win an election in Assam even without the support of religious and linguistic minorities. And full credit goes to Tarun Gogoi as he actively advocated alliance with ethnic tribal groups rather than depending too much on minorities. Tarun Gogoi faced immense opposition from within his party. But the end result shows that it was only the Chief Minister who got his political calculations right. 

|  Headlines  |  Editorial   | Cover story  |
|  Travel Column   |   News Briefs  |
| OT Main Page | Nena  Home Page  |