[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 19 Mar: The Congress is expected to field former chief minister Nabam Tuki as the MP candidate from the western parliamentary constituency.
According to party sources, former AICC president Rahul Gandhi is pushing Tuki to fight the MP election.
The party is expected to announce his candidature within the next few days.
This move will ensure a tantalising, high-profile battle between Tuki and sitting MP Kiren Rijiju of the BJP.
The saffron party has already announced that Rijiju will be the party’s nominee from the western parliamentary constituency.
In 2019 too, Tuki was nominated as an MP candidate, but he fought the election reluctantly and put more energy into retaining the Sagalee assembly seat, where he has been the MLA since 1991.
He is one of the longest-serving MLAs in the state.
The AICC has decided to field party heavyweights, including former chief ministers, across India in the Lok Sabha elections. Tuki, who started his political career from the Youth Congress and rose to the position of the chief minister, is widely regarded in the state. The electoral battle between him and Rijiju will be keenly followed.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Techi Tagi Tara has applied for the Congress ticket from the Sagalee assembly constituency. Tara has been associated with the party for a long time, and his move to apply for the ticket is believed to have the blessing of Tuki himself.
“The Congress leadership and workers in the state want Tuki to single-handedly concentrate on the MP election. It becomes very difficult to fight both MP and MLA elections. The party in all probability will field Tuki as the MP candidate, and Techi Tagi Tara as the MLA candidate from the Sagalee assembly constituency,” said a Congress insider.
Retired engineer Techi Ratu is the BJP’s candidate from the Sagalee assembly constituency.
Tuki is currently camping in Delhi, and will return to the state as soon as the Congress announces the names of the candidates for the western parliamentary constituency and the 60 assembly seats.
The Congress has already announced that former minister Bosiram Siram will be the party’s candidate from the eastern parliamentary constituency. Tapir Gao, the sitting MP, has been announced as the BJP’s nominee from the same seat.
