uofa-gogoi-s-non-political-visit-to-union-minister-sonowal-s-home-garners-attention

Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the candidate backed by the United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA) for Assam's Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency, visited the family of his BJP rival Sarbananda Sonowal at their residence in Muluk Gaon on Saturday.

 

Gogoi paid his respects to the Union minister's elder brother Dipak Sonowal and other family members, including the widow of his eldest sibling Girish Sonowal.

 

He sought their blessings and conveyed his regards, emphasising that his visit was not for seeking votes.

 

''I have not come here to seek votes but the blessings of the elders whom I have known since long'', Gogoi said.

 

Dipak Sonowal said it is the ''people who will vote and decide the fate of a candidate but all our good wishes and blessings are with Gogoi''.

 

Sonowal's elder brother's widow also wished Gogoi success and blessed him by saying ''Jai hok' (may you win) and may ''all your wishes be fulfilled.''

 

Gogoi greeted the family members with the traditional Assamese 'gamosa', and Sonowal's wife presented him with a yellow-green 'gamosa' characteristic of the Sonowal-Kachari tribe.

 

Earlier, both Gogoi and the Union minister had met at Haldhibari Nagar Than, a place of worship in Dibrugarh, where they shared pleasantries over tea.

 

Both the candidates have their roots in the All Assam Students Union (AASU) with Sonowal having served as the president from 1992 to 1999 and Gogoi as the general secretary much later during the later part of the last decade.

 

The Dibrugarh constituency is going to polls in the first phase on April 19 with three candidates in fray, including Aam Aadmi Party's Monoj Dhanowar.