Murder taint on AGP-BJP nominee

GUWAHATI: In the mudslinging game, each party is trying to score more points than the other. And why should the ruling Congress be left behind?
Firing a salvo at the AGP-BJP combine, chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday said the coalition is fielding a candidate who has been chargesheeted in a murder case.

However, Gogoi refrained from naming the candidate. "Let them (AGP-BJP) deny it first, then I will name the nominee who has been chargesheeted in a murder case," he said, while underlining the Congress policy of keeping tainted persons away from contesting elections on the party's ticket.

In the same breath, Gogoi stressed that the two Independent legislators, Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Duori, against whom arrest warrants have been issued for their alleged vandalism inside the Kaziranga National Park, are absconding. The two MLAs support the Congress in the House and their respective Assembly constituencies are segments of Koliabor and Jorhat parliamentary constituencies.

Gogoi said their arrests would not have an impact on the Congress fortunes in these two Lok Sabha seats. "Lok Sabha elections are different and the view points of the same set of voters differ in the case of Assembly and parliamentary elections. I don't think their arrests would have any negative impact on the Congress," he added.

There is a common feeling among people that the two MLAs are still evading police action as they are in positions to influence their voters, at least in Assembly constituencies, which might hamper the Congress.