Dibrugarh, March 3: The influential Asom Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) wants all political parties to field candidates from the tea tribe for the Mariani Assembly bypoll, which will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in the state. The byelection has been necessitated by the death of Rupam Kurmi, who was also from the tea tribe. Kurmi was a minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet.
ACMS general secretary Madhusudan Khandait said here today that since the tea tribe was predominant in the constituency, it was only fair that the candidates are selected from it.
For the record, the ACMS is an over five-decade-old trade union with Congress leanings. PCC chief Paban Singh Ghatowar, who represents Dibrugarh in the Lok Sabha, is also the president of the ACMS.
?The constituency has been represented by a tea tribe leader since 1971 and, therefore, the party should not break away from the tradition,? Khandait said. However, he said the union would not request the Congress in writing to field a leader from the tea community. The ACMS will soon hold its executive committee meeting in Dibrugarh to discuss this issue, he said.
Earlier, during the run-up to the 2001 Assembly poll, the union had put up an unofficial demand for the Congress to field 45 candidates from the community in those constituencies, which are dominated by tea voters. The Congress had responded to the appeal to a large extent. Subsequently, the ACMS had also demanded berths in the ministry when Gogoi expanded his cabinet.
However, this time, with allegations that the ACMS is losing ground in certain blocks because of the violent bonus row last year and the entry of two top functionaries of Assam Tea Tribes Students? Association ? Kamakhya Prasad Tasha and Rabi Barla ? into the BJP, will make the selection of candidates even more critical for the Congress, sources here said.