Scramble for party ticket in Asom

Guwahati, Mar 10 (UNI) Mad scramble for party ticket has literally brought Guwahati to a standstill as ticket seekers and their supporters blocked the main roads throwing normal life out of gear.

While the Congress disrupted traffic on the ever busy GS Road the AGP paralysed the traffic at M.G Road and the BJP obstructed the movement on the R G BO Road.

Unable to handle the supporters, the party top brass have started conducting secret meetings. Both the Congress and the AGP are trying to use the normal government protective security ring as the shield while BJP leadership has left for New Delhi.

''We will remain on the ground and will try to resolve the ticket distribution process as far as possible locally. We do not want party ticket seekers to go to New Delhi,'' said Congress in-charge of Asom Digvijay Singh, whose arrival at Guwahati had further charged the aspirants at Rajib Bhawan, the party state headquarter.

The AGP have moved their most important meetings to the residence of their party President Brindabon Goswami, who is also the leader of the opposition in the present assembly. His residence is within the high security Assembly Complex.

''With the huge crowd it is impossible to seriously discuss anything. In fact, we have asked the district committees to select their own candidates because each of the 500 people, who applied are eligible to get tickets,'' said Mr Goswami.

The BJP top brass after playing the cat and mouse game for one week finally left for New Delhi with a draft list. The party supporters chased them in the party office, hotel rooms and finally even at the terrace of a shopping mall as unusual surge of applicants made life miserable for all of them.

''The party leadership has more or less finalised the whole list and in phased manner the same would be announced in a day or two,'' said the party spokesman Ashok Singhal, himself a contender for the Guwahati (West) post. He said party leader Pramod Mahajan was himself screening the list.

Also the breakaway AGP(P) is trying to catch the disgruntled elements of the AGP and put them up as candidates to create hurldes for the parent party.

There has been heavy demand of hotels and guest houses at Guwahati city. All the mid range and budget accommodations are packed to the capacity for last five days.

''It has been good business. The business is up by about 70 per cent and we had to return some of our old customers,'' said Mr. Pankaj Baishya, Manager of Param Hotel.

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