Kaushik Rai says he wants to create history in Lakhipur; What’s next for Rajdeep Goala?

Riding against the wave that decimated Congress across the length and breadth of Cachar, Rajdeep Goala became the only Congress MLA to hold his seat. Lakhipur, the heart of the tea-belt has been a fortress for the Goalas for decades. Rajdeep Goala’s father professor Dinesh Prasad Goala was elected as the MLA from Lakhipur seven consecutive times and died as the MLA of Lakhipur.

Then Rajdeep Goala took over the reins from his father, apart from being the successor of one of the most successful congressmen in Assam, he starting building an image of his own. He won the bypolls in 2014. In 2016, contesting against BJP’s Thoiba Singha, he got 55% votes – 60,135 against his opponent’s 35,768.

Last year, Rajdeep Goala switched sides and joined his family’s arched rivals BJP. Yesterday, when BJP’s general secretary Arun Singh announced the names of the candidates, it became clear, Goala fortress has been breached.

Singh announced that the party will field Cachar District President, Kaushik Rai as the candidate to contest the elections from Lakhipur. This means, for the first time since 1983, there won’t be a candidate from the Goala family contesting in the elections.

Moments after his name was announced, speaking with journalists, Kaushik Rai said that he is grateful to the party’s leadership for bestowing their trust in him. He added, “Want to create history in Lakhipur.”

Rai reminded the press that BJP never won in Lakhipur and since 1951, it is the Congress that has emerged victorious each and every time. He stressed that this history is going to change this time and the fortress will be breached. It is worth mentioning here that Kaushik Rai had contested the elections from Algapur in 2016 where he faced a heavy defeat against AIUDF’s Nizamuddin Choudhury. However, Rai was able to up BJP’s vote share in Algapur by 24% to 27.77% in the constituency in Hailakandi.

Well, one might say that BJP has already won half the battle by luring Rajdeep Goala into the party and then handing him over the role of cheerleader. The candidate with the most acceptance will not be contesting the elections leaving it for the rest to battle out. Meanwhile, Congress is yet to announce the names of the candidate the party will field from respective constituencies.