Miffed BJP MLA agrees to campaign for party

Guwahati, March 13 Two days after quitting the party, a BJP MLA in Assam on Friday announced to campaign for the saffron party while another legislator submitted nomination as an independent candidate.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party so far this time denied party tickets to 10 sitting legislators and a Minister Sum Ronghang.

BJP's Silchar legislators Dilip Kumar Paul and his Hojai counterpart Shiladitya Dev resigned from the party on Wednesday after they were denied tickets to contest the coming Assembly elections in the state.

Following the persuasion of Assam Minister and senior party leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, Dev on Friday announced to campaign for the party while Paul on Friday submitted his nomination paper in the Silchar assembly constituency in southern Assam.

BJP minister Sum Ronghang joined the Congress after denied ticket, the opposition party on Thursday nominated him to contest the Assam Assembly polls from his Diphu constituency. Paul was elected to the Assam Assembly in the 2014 by-elections.

He won again in the 2016 state polls to become the Deputy Speaker, while Dev, an RSS member, was elected to the House for the first time in 2016.The BJP this time nominated Dipayan Chakraborty for the Silchar Assembly constituency, while Ramakrishna Ghosh has been fielded from Hojai.

Both the constituencies are dominated by Bengali speaking people.Talking to the media, Paul accused Silchar Lok Sabha MP Rajdeep Roy of adividing' the BJP members. In 2018, after serving two years as the Deputy Speaker in the Assam Assembly, Paul had submitted his resignation.

The 126-member Assam Assembly will go to the polls in three phases on March 27 (47 seats), April 1 (39 seats) and April 6 (40 seats). The results will be declared on May 2.

BJP national General Secretary Arun Singh on March 6 in New Delhi said that of the 126 seats in Assam, his party would contest in 92 seats, giving 26 seats to its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and 8 seats to new partner United People's Party Liberal (UPPL).

The BJP strategist Himanta Biswa Sarma, the convener of the saffron party backed regional body Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA), said that one seat will be contested by the Rabha Joutho Mancha, but under the BJP symbol.

( With inputs from IANS )