A CORRESPONDENT
SILCHAR: Once 'all powerful' in Barak Valley, Gautam Roy now finds it hard to make even his presence felt in the Saffron party which he switched over to after severing three decade old association with the Congress. The nomination round of the BJP for the ensuing civic body poll for Hailakandi Municipal Board and Lala Town Committee sealed the fate of Roy 'dynasty' in the district as none of the names proposed by Roy was awarded with the nomination.
Gautam Roy, a five-time Minister during the Congress regime in his three decade career, lost to AIUDF in 2016 in the backdrop of the Saffron upsurge in the State. The defeat was hard for Roy to digest and he for quiet a long time withdrew himself from Hailakandi. Prior to 2021 election, he resurfaced, now in Saffron garb. However, he had to sacrifice Katlicherra, the bastion of Roys, as the BJP fielded him at Katigorah in Cachar district where too he was not welcomed by the BJP leaders. He was defeated again, this time by Congress.
Gautam Roy, even when he was a Congress Minister, used to project himself as a messiah of the Hindus in the Muslim dominant Hailakandi. A major chunk of BJP supporters used to vote for him. But the BJP leadership shifted him from his 'comfort zone' Hailakandi and pitted him in Katigorah where he was at all welcomed.
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