On Sunday night, Nandita Gorlosa, a sitting MLA and a former minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party, crossed over to the Indian National Congress after she was refused a ticket to contest in the coming Assam Assembly elections. The political change was quite dramatic as the nomination deadline was just a few hours away and the shift was done.
Gorlosa will run against Haflong (ST) seat on a Congress ticket. Interestingly, the Congress had already announced Nirmal Langthasa as its candidate to the seat in its fifth list. Nevertheless, the party leadership changed its mind after the induction of Gorlosa, as Langthasa withdrew to permit her to contest the party in what was termed to be in the greater good of the populace.
The growth was witnessed with the assistance of senior congress leaders who accommodated Gorlosa into the party and showed belief in her future in the forthcoming election. The Congress by way of an official statement assured that all formalities pertaining to her candidature would be promptly done.
BJP, however, had replaced Gorlosa with the Haflong seat, and put up Rupali Langthasa, a part of a larger restructuring of the party, which deprived a number of sitting legislators of their tickets.
The Assam Assembly elections will be one phase that will be on April 9 and will take place in all the 126 constituencies. The change of last minute by Gorlosa is bound to bring more competition to Haflong as well as a wider context of political implications in the region.