Tezpur: Modern-day ‘Mahabharata’ to be fought between MGVK Bhanu, Pallab Lochan Das

Guwahati, April 6, 2019:

Know your Constituency: Tezpur

A modern-day version of the epic ‘Mahabharata’ is unfolding in Tezpur Constituency of Assam where the 1985 batch IAS officer MGVK Bhanu, a key player in the Tarun Gogoi administration, will go toe-to-toe with one of the BJP’s youth brigade, Pallab Lochan Das.

In what is shaping into the most riveting of contests, with momentum swinging one way and then the other, both candidates have launched all-out assaults in their attempts to discredit the opposition. Das has been joined by Finance Minister and Minister Pijush Hazarika in attacks against Bhanu, but his morale is yet to be dented.

The accusations of being an “outsider” have bounced off Bhanu and responding to the BJP’s repeated urges to reveal his full name, Bhanu’s campaign’s campaign poster stated that his initials ‘MGVK’ stand for:

M – Manav Sewa (Public service)

G – Guni (Endowed with talent)

V – Voroxajugyo (Dependable)

K – Kartavyaparayan (Responsible)

Thus, Bhanu has proved a hard nut to crack due to which the saffron party is campaign heavily in the region to woo voters in favor of Das.

The Controversy before the War:

The fight in Tezpur is not only between BJP and Congress as earlier, a ‘silent war’ between two BJP leaders had broken out as sitting MP Ram Prasad Sarmah tendered his resignation and threatened not to mobilize Gorkhas (a pivotal voting bloc) to vote for the saffron party when it came to light that the party was propping Himanta Biswa Sarma up to replace him as the party candidate from Tezpur.

The resentment of Sarmah still continues and it remains to be seen to what extent the former RSS-man mobilizes his voter base to support the new BJP candidate.

Tezpur by the numbers:

Total no. of male voters: 763,599

Total no. of female voters: 731,248

Total no. of voters: 1,494,878

Number of voters in 2014: 980,688

Assembly Constituencies in Tezpur: Dhekiajuli, Barchalla, Tezpur, Rangapara, Sootea, Biswanath, Behali, Gohpur, and Bihpuria.

Bookies’ choice: No favorites as this election could swing either way.