Guwahati: Amid the ongoing process of selection of candidates and nomination by candidates, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP president Dilip Saikia on Sunday launched a drive to reach out legislators and aspirants who were denied nomination by the BJP and threatening to contest as Independent.
Mr Sarma who visited BJP MLA Atul Bora who was denied nomination to accommodate Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi from Diapur and AGP MLA R N Kalita who could not get nomination after his seat was abolished in delimitation of constituency, said that most of BJP aspirants who could not get nomination have agreed to work for the party.
Asserting that even after their attempt to pacify disgruntled leaders a few may contest the elections, the chief minister said, “We are reaching out to all our leaders and we want that no one should leave the party. Even after that if a few decide to contest, we will wish them the best.”
Pointing out that there were 90 seats on which BJP is contesting, Mr Sarma said that there were more than 1400 aspirants. “It was not possible to accommodate every one,” he said.
Though Mr Sarma tried to underplay the anger of those aspirants denied ticket, sources in the BJP said that protest was more because of nomination given to Congress leaders who recently joined the party. It is significant that the BJP, contesting 90 seats in the assembly polls, has given tickets to 28 former Congress members who joined the party in 2015 after Mr Sarma joined the BJP.
Discontent is high in two other constituencies — New Guwahati and Guwahati Central — where veteran leaders Siddhartha Bhattacharya of the BJP and Ramendra Narayan Kalita of the AGP, both former ministers, have been denied tickets.
Mr Bhattacharya, who was instrumental in bringing Mr Sarma into the BJP in 2015, said that he was not angry with the party though he was silent about his involvement in the upcoming elections. Mr Kalita was also unhappy with the denial but the chief minister rushed to his residence as well to placate him.
Mr Bhattacharya has been replaced by Samaguri’s sitting MLA Diplu Ranjan Sarma, who rushed to the senior leader’s home to seek his ‘blessings’. Mr Kalita has been replaced by BJP leader Vijay Gupta.
Anger is also high in Bihpuria constituency, where former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah has been given the seat, replacing sitting BJP MLA Amiya Kumar Bhuyan. Mr Bhuyan, a former All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) leader, said he was considering contesting the polls as an Independent and was discussing the matter with his followers.
Former Jorhat MP Topon Kumar Gogoi, who had lost to Mr Gaurav Gogoi from the same seat in the 2024 parliamentary polls, was also planning to contest as an Independent from Sonari assembly constituency, which he had won in 2016. He said that his supporters want him to contest as an Independent and “we are discussing the issue”.
In Barak Valley, there was a rumble of dissent among the sitting MLAs Nihar Ranjan Das of Dholai, Dipayan Chakraborty of Silchar and Mihir Kanti Som of Udharbond who were denied tickets, sources said.
The chief minister on Sunday rushed his cabinet colleague Jayanta Malla Baruah to Silchar to pacify the situation though the MLAs have not yet announced their future course of action.
BJP state president Dilip Saikia also sought to downplay the protests by a section of leaders, while asserting that they are reaching out to all those leaders denied tickets. “The BJP is a disciplined party and its members will not do anything to harm its interests. Some of them may have expected tickets as they had worked very hard, but it is not possible to accommodate all aspirants and they will understand,” he told reporters.
Taking a dig at ongoing rumbling in the BJP, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi also said that the BJP in the state was effectively a “Congress led by Sarma”.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
