Breaking: Assam Journalist Atanu Bhuyan to Contest Rajya Sabha Polls against Fellow Scribe Ajit Kr Bhuyan

Guwahati, March 12, 2020:

Atanu Bhuyan, a prominent journalist from Assam, will now contest for the third Rajya Sabha seat that will head to the polls on March 26. Thus, it will be journalist versus journalist and Bhuyan versus Bhuyan for the third seat in the polls.

Opposition parties - All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the Congress - have decided to support the candidature of Ajit Bhuyan on Wednesday. Thus, it is expected that the BJP will indulge in horse-trading to ensure the defeat of the opposition party's chosen one. Thus, it is expected that the BJP will have to reach an 'understanding' with the Congress and ideological rivals and bitter foes, the AIUDF, if Atanu Bhuyan is to lay claim to the throne.

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Bhuyan's candidature has been approved as the opposition is trying to rope in figures from the anti-CAA movement with Assam, amid rising tensions nationwide against the Bill-turned-Act in the wake of the riots in Delhi. However, the ruling BJP has lashed out at the Congress-AIUDF alliance, and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, taking digs at the leader, insinuated that he had taken part in the CAA andolan in order in order to make a foray into politics.

[caption id="attachment_54565" align="alignnone" width="582"] Journalist Moon Goswami Claims the Nomination Papers on Atanu Bhuyan's Behalf[/caption]

At the same time, eyebrows have been raised after the Congress and AIUDF parties, usually considered to be loggerheads after ex-CM Tarun Gogoi's "Who is Ajmal?" comment, came together ahead of the polls. The anti-CAA sentiment is the key factor uniting both parties this time. While addressing the mediapersons, AIUDF president Maulana Badruddin Ajmal had earlier expressed the need to have “a vocal, articulate person who has a secular outlook and is against the unconstitutional Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” and added that the party’s candidate would be announced in two-three days.

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