Consensus eludes Asom opposition, Congress issue whip

Guwahati, May 13 (UNI) Consensus has been eluding Opposition in Asom even as ruling Congress today gifted the second Rajya Sabha seat to them by announcing that there would be no second preference voting from their MLAs.

Asom Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma today told newspersons here that out of respect towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Rajya Sabha candidature from Asom, the Congress would not have a second preference vote.

''The Congress and its associate members will have only one preference and that is the Prime Minister. We do not want to get into unnecessary controversy by allowing our MLAs to choose a second preference vote,'' he said.

Congress has 60 members besides the support of 11 members of BPPF and need only 43 votes for the Prime Minister to win the Rajya Sabha seat.

''We can also win the second seat given the division amongst the Opposition, but as a complete respect to the prime minister, there is no second preference. The formal party whip will be issued by our Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bharat Chandra Narah and we will also request our Bodo MLAs to follow that,'' Mr Sharma said.

He said that he has clarified the Congress' position at the insistence of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, since some confusion was created due to media reports about the Congress' second preference vote.

Meanwhile, the day-night meeting is continuing in the Opposition camps but the AGP-AUDF-BJP are yet to find out an acceptable candidate.

''Tomorrow being the last date of filling the nomination papers, a consensus candidate is likely to emerge later tonight as it has been decided to field a party men from the AGP party,''the minister stated.

UNI