Gogoi kin may vacate LS seat for Manmohan

MANDATE 2004

Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh has been invited by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the state. Singh has been offered the Koliabor seat, which is at present held by his younger brother Dip Gogoi.

Singh is already a Rajya Sabha member from the state and congratulatory messages had been pouring in from Guwahati ever since news of his appointment as Prime Minister was announced.

Former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was not a Lok Sabha MP when he took over the top post in 1991. Then, Nandyal, a traditional Congress seat, had been vacated for him. And as a gesture of goodwill to a fellow Andhraite, the then chief of the Telugu Desam Party, NT Rama Rao, had not fielded any contestants against him.

As profiles go, Koliabor is also considered a "safe seat" for the Congress. The seat has been won by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in 1991, 1998, and 1999. With Keshub Mahanta of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) having wrested the seat in 1996.

This time round, Dip Gogoi won the seat, polling more than 39 per cent of votes, while his rival candidate Keshub Mahanta could manage only around 30 per cent.

Assam has been very happy about its "Manmohan connection" and it is almost certain that Singh would win from the seat.

Although the idea of a Punjabi winning from the Northeast would otherwise have flummoxed even the most perceptive of psephologists.

The Congress seems to have a tradition of letting its prime ministerial candidates roam the country when its comes to seat selection.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi fought and won from the Chikmagalur seat in Karnataka in 1980, abandoning Rae Bareilly, which chose Raj Narain in the 1977 general elections.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi too went south to Bellary in Karnataka, where she won in 1999. She had, however, also fought from Amethi, and gave up the Bellary seat. The BJP won the 2004 elections from the seat.

Thus, it may not be surprising that the unlikely Prime Minister may choose the unusual Koliabor as his ticket to the Lok Sabha.