Guwahati: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Deputy Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday has officially applied for party candidature from three constituencies in Assam. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) member has submitted applications for Kaziranga (earlier Kaliabor), Jorhat and Nagaon.

Son of Congress stalwart and former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, the CWC member shocked everyone by officially applying for party candidature from the above three constituencies. One among them is Kaziranga, which he had been representing since 2014. The two others are Jorhat, which is considered as a Gogoi stronghold and Nagaon, where the Congress is in the driver's seat with nearly 70 per cent minority voters. Interestingly, Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi has also submitted application from the same seat.

The Congress party had officially invited applications for party candidature from the prospective candidates with an application fee of Rs 1 lakh each. Over 70 people have already applied for 14 constituencies of the State.

With the deadline extended for three more days after Tuesday, Gaurav Gogoi kept everyone guessing till the last moment.

A source, close to the Congress leader, said that Gaurav will contest from one seat but he is open to contesting from any of these three seats. "We are ready. It is for the party and the people to decide where they want us to contest from. The winnability is equal in all three seats," he said requesting not to be named.

It is to be observed that after the delimitation in Assam, the erstwhile Kaliabor, which had been a bastion of the Gogoi's, witnessed a decline in the number of minority voters as Dhing, Rupohi and Batadraba were aligned with Nagaon making Kaziranga, a Hindu dominated constituency. Earlier, former Chief Minister late Tarun Gogoi and his brother Dip Gogoi both represented the Kaliabor for close to three decades before Gaurav took over. However, with the tides changing this time, Gaurav is keeping his choices open for Jorhat as well as Nagaon.

Whatever the outcome maybe, Gaurav's move has been seen as a political masterstroke within the corridors of power with even ruling BJP leaders commenting it as a smart move.