PTI

Tura (Meghalaya), Apr 1: General election 200928-year-old Agatha Sangma is pitted against Congress nominee and former deputy chief minister Deborah Marak in Tura, a seat which Agatha's father PA Sangma held for nine consecutive terms.

Marak, however, says the battle is between her and PA Sangma. It is not a battle between me and Agatha, but it is a fight against the "misrule" of Purno Sangma, Marak said.

The Congress candidate, also a two-time MLA, wondered if she could take the challenge of a one-to-one fight.

On her part, Agatha says that "I am looked at mostly as PA Sangma's daughter and I am proud of it. Being PA Sangma's daughter has really put me on a pedestal and has given an opportunity to get things done. But from here on, it will be my personal image and the way I display and perform".

The nine-time parliamentarian from Tura, Sangma has successfully launched his two sons - Conrad and James - into politics during last years Assembly elections in the state.

The youngest Sangma sibling, Agatha had jumped into the political bandwagon by winning the Tura by-poll, a seat that fell vacant after her father resigned following his election as an MLA.

Tura, dominated by the Garo tribe to which he belongs, has been Sangma's bastion since 1977. He was elected to the Lok Sabha nine times from the seat, besides winning the Assembly elections twice.

Prior to the Assembly elections in March, the senior Sangma decided to quit national politics in favour of state politics and start from where he left 22 years ago when he was the state's chief minister.