Cong upbeat over victory STAFF Reporter GUWAHATI, Nov 10 The Congress is in an upbeat mood after regaining Dhekiajuli and South Salmara Assembly seats and the party has already started preparations for the 2011 Assembly elections. The seats fell vacant after election of Joseph Toppo (AGP) and Badruddin Ajmal (AUDF) to the Lok Sabha.
A festive atmosphere gripped the office of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) immediately after the declaration of the results of the by-elections and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and APCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita were among those who joined the celebrations.
Addressing the party workers, the Chief Minister said that the people reposed faith in the development programmes launched by the Congress-led Government and asserted that development works would be expedited. He also thanked the voters for electing Congress candidates.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, APCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita said that the victory of the Congress candidates in the by-elections was a recognition of the development works undertaken by the Congress-led Government in the State. The rate of development in the constituencies represented by Congress legislators is much faster than the constituencies represented by opposition legislators. Now the Government and the legislators will work for expediting the pace of development in Dhekiajuli and South Salmara, he added.
Kalita said that regaining Dhekiajuli and South Salmara was a challenge before the Congress workers and congratulated all the members of the party for achieving the goal.
The APCC president said that the party has already started preparations for the 2011 State Assembly elections and the victory in the by-elections gave the party the encouragement it needs to start preparations for the next Assembly polls. He said that the process of organisational elections of the party has started and the election schedule would be announced shortly. He revealed that the membership drive, the first step towards the organisational elections, is complete and a meeting of all the primary committees will be held on November 29 to start the ball rolling for the organisational elections.
Meanwhile, after losing the Dhekiajuli constituency, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) members are in a depressed mood and party spokesman Atul Bora said, The AGP won the constituency for three consecutive terms and this time the ruling party managed to woo the voters with tall promises. He said that on his visits to the constituency, the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi made tall promises for which he was even censured by the Election Commission. He said that the AGP would now keep a close watch on whether the promises made by the Chief Minister are fulfilled.
Bora further said that the AGP would soon hold a meeting to review the election results and take decisions to revamp the party.
