Who will be the ‘sir’ of Tezpur? MGVK Bhanu or Pallab Lochan Das

GUWAHATI: “Who will be the sir of Tezpur?” Assam’s Tezpur is witnessing an interesting debate following a statement from former bureaucrat MGVK Bhanu about Pallab Lochan Das, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate from the constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.

The debate was fuelled after Bhanu remarked, “I am not sure if Pallab was born when I joined service in 1985.” Bhanu is a 1985 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, who worked in Sonitpur district during the early days of his career. He retired as additional chief secretary in 2018.

Reacting to Bhanu’s statement, Das said, “He referred to me as ‘sir’ while I was the power minister and later the labour minister.”


The 40-year-old was the general secretary of All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association and entered the Assam Assembly from Rangapara constituency on a Congress ticket in 2011. In 2016, he got a BJP ticket from the same constituency.

Bhanu wielded immense power and clout in the Assam government during the chief ministership of Tarun Gogoi, especially during 2001-2006, the first term of the Congress government. There was a saying in political circles that Assam was being run by ‘Bhanu and Jannu’. ‘Jannu’ was used by Gogoi, the Assamese for ‘I know’.

Bhanu hails from Andhra Pradesh and for a short stint became the Tea Board of India chairman. He joined Congress this year and despite opposition from the party’s senior leaders like Gogoi, secured a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections from Tezpur.

While BJP was keen on fielding the state’s Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from this seat, the party leadership decided not to engage him in the parliamentary elections this year.

As a result, BJP is relying on Das to retain the seat. Das is close to Sarma and they, along with eight others, had raised a banner of revolt against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in 2014 and sought a change in leadership.

Besides Bhanu and Das, there are seven other candidates in the fray from the Tezpur. Identified as a Congress stronghold in the past, the area saw BJP and AGP’s rise in the 2016 Assembly polls.

While political analysts opined that the seat will witness a bitter fight between the BJP and the Congress, it remains to be seen who wrests the title of sir after the elections.