AIDS victim to fight election against former Chief Minister

Guwahati, Mar 4 (UNI) An HIV positive patient is all set to contest against former Asom Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the coming Assembly election.

The Congress will field Jahnavi Goswami against Mr Mahanta at Barhampur from where the former Chief Minister has been winning since 1985.

'' She will be joining the Congress today at Nagaon and contesting the elections'' said her sister and constant companion Ankita Goswami. Jahnavi is the niece of senior Congress leader Nripen Goswami.

Jahnavi is reported to have a close rapport with the Congress as she was given a ''government job and a house'' by the Congress government. She has been the most visible anti-AIDS campaigner in the region and has been leading the state all over the world.

She was now getting better. For the past one decade she has been carrying the HIV which she acquired from her husband.

Jahnavi also lost her baby daughter who had been suffering from the disease.

The Congress is trying to champion the cause of women and AIDS in one stroke as her fight will be more of moral one than a practical one in Mahanta's citadel.

UNI MT JYN SP MA RK1808