Lakhimpur real test for Congress; tea tribe votes key in Dibrugarh

Assam BJP chief Sarbananda Sonowal moving out from Dibrugarh may have given a tad of relief to Congress' five-time MP from the seat Paban Singh Ghatowar but has made things tough for Congress' Ranee Narah, who is left to fight against Sonowal in Lakhimpur.

Sonowal, who was earlier with AGP and defeated Ghatowar in 2004, joined BJP in 2011 and shifted his constituency this time from Dibrugarh to Lakhimpur in Brahmaputra river's North Bank. Both the constituencies will go to polls on Monday.

There are six candidates in the fray in Dibrugarh, which has nine assembly segments spread across the two districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. In Lakhimpur, there are 13 candidates with nine assembly segments spread across the four districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia and Jorhat.

Narah, a Minister of State for Tribal Affairs in UPA-II, had accused that her colleague Ghatowar, the Union DoNER Minister, entered into a pact with Sonowal to shift to Lakhimpur so that his win becomes easier.

The allegation has been denied by both the 62-year-old Ghatowar and Sonowal.

Believed to be close to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the 50-year-old Narah is seeking a fourth term in Parliament from the same constituency. She had faced open rebellion from a section of party MLAs in her constituency's assembly segments with some even refusing to campaign for her.

The party's central leadership, however, is said to have issued a warning to the MLAs and directed them to campaign for all official Congress nominees, party sources said.

The issues of big dams over the Subansiri, erosion of the world's largest inhabited river island Majuli, which falls under Lakhimpur constituency, and shifting of the traditional vote bank of Mising tribes are also expected to impact the fate of Narah, political analysts pointed out.

While Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had campaigned for Narah, a former member of the state's women cricket team, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi canvassed for Sonowal.