After setting her up as a prospective candidate, the Congress on Thursday sidelined AIDS victim Jahnavi Goswami by denying her a ticket for the forthcoming assembly polls in Assam against former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

As the Congress party came out with its list of candidates, a crestfallen Jahnavi, the most visible face of anti-AIDS campaign in eastern India, was left behind.

"I joined politics because of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Home Minister Rockeybull Hussein. State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma was also instrumental. You ask them why I was humiliated like this," she quipped.

Jahnavi has little chance against Mahanta, who has never lost the Barhampur seat since 1985. But her arrival on the scene had brought some colour to the otherwise dull political campaigning. Instead of her, the party gave the ticket to Chitrelekha Phukan.

"I wanted to push for a policy decision by which in the state blood samples of both the bride and groom are to be tested before marriage. I acquired HIV from my late husband. I lost my daughter. There could be more. I wanted that legislation. That was my sole ambition," she said.