With Gogoi Gone, Assam Cong Banks on Chhattisgarh Model and Anti-CAA Stance to Win Assembly Polls

In Assam Congress, Tarun Gogoi is being sorely missed. Despite the fact that the BJP seems to have the edge, previously the Congress was feeling that with the giant presence of the former chief minister, it would be able to regain much of its lost ground in the state ahead of assembly polls around April. His death has come as a big setback certainly, but now the Congress in Assam has decided to follow the Chhattisgarh model.

In the 2018 Chhattisgarh elections, the Congress never put up any potential CM face. It was a team effort with Bhupesh Baghel, TS Singh Deo among others being placed at the front. In Assam too a similar experiment has been planned. The Congress intends to divide the campaign into four zones with focus also being given particularly to the Bodo areas. The four faces who will lead the campaign are Kaliabor MP and son of Tarun Gogoi Gaurav Gogoi, Mahila Congress chief and former MP from Silchar Sushmita Deo, Nazira MLA Debabrata Saikia and Nogaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi. The zones will be decided soon but the brief given to them is to concentrate on areas they will be given charge of and ensure maximum seats.

The Congress also plans to focus particularly on upper Assam. It feels that if the party wins maximum seats here it could form the government. Said a source in charge of strategy, “We feel whoever wins the maximum upper Assam seats wins the state.”

But what the Congress hopes will be the game changer is its stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act. Rahul Gandhi In his debut campaign along with other state leaders wore a gamocha which said “No CAA”. The Congress has already said it won’t implement CAA in the state if it comes to power. The party hopes to win at least 46 seats in upper Assam with this strategy. Not just this; the Congress also said it would set up a memorial to those who died fighting against the CAA. Sources say that as the campaigning heats up, the party will find more dramatic ways to make the point that the Act has divided the people of the state. One such plan is to have a door-to-door campaign against the CAA to reach out to maximum people and build up momentum. As far as the Congress is concerned, the game is not yet over and it has plans up its sleeves.