My duty is to salvage lost image of party: Bora

APCC to review Assembly poll results on September 4 after long three months

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, August 28: Newly appointed Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora has admitted that the debacle in the Assembly elections in the State has weakened the party that has also lost the confidence of the people of the State. He said that his first job is to bring the party back on track.

Appointed as APCC president by party high command Sonia Gandhi on August 23, Ripun Bora today set his foot on Rajiv Bhavan for the first time as APCC president, accompanied by a bike rally taken out by the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress (APYC) and the tiol Students’ Union of India (NSUI). The bike rally was taken out by APYC and NSUI members from the Mabendra Sarma Complex at Dispur to Rajiv Bhavan, giving the new APCC president a hero’s welcome. Bora was felicitated at Rajiv Bhavan amidst the presence of a large number of senior party leaders and MLAs.

Talking to newsmen after the felicitation, Bora said: “The recent poll debacle has weakened the party. It has also lost the confidence of the people of the State. My primary job is to revive the party. I’ll explain the reasons behind the defeat in the Assembly election. I’ll also do my best to win the lost confidence of the people of the State. We’ve to woo their hearts. The people of Assam have already seen the true colours of the BJP-led government in Assam in the first three months. I’ll take into confidence all party workers at the grassroots level, right from booths, while going ahead with any party plan and policy. We need to make the people of Assam know that they’ve no altertive to the Congress. We’re playing our duty as a strong Opposition in the State Assembly.”

It is worth mentioning here that the Congress had won only 26 seats in the last Assembly elections against 87 earlier. With the resigtion by an MLA the total strength of the party has been reduced to 25 now. The APCC has not reviewed its poll results over the last three months, leaving the party ranks and files blaming the party high command Sonia Gandhi and former chief minister Tarun Gogoi for the defeat.

Meanwhile, the APCC is set to review the performance of the party in the last Assembly elections on September 4, so as to ascertain the reasons behind the debacle.