Himanta, Saikia reach out to leaders threatening to contest as independents

Several sitting MLAs and aspirants, who have been deprived of BJP tickets for the April 9 Assam assembly polls, have threatened to contest as Independents, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and State party chief Dilip Saikia reaching out to them to calm their ire, sources said.

The recent induction of Congress leaders Pradyut Bordoloi and Bhupen Borah into the BJP and their subsequent nomination as party candidates for Dispur and Bihpuria assembly constituencies, respectively, has raised the hackles of many ticket aspirants in the party.

The most vocal protest has been in Dispur constituency, where senior party leader Jayanta Das was a highly probable candidate before Bordoloi jumped into the scene. Das openly revolted against Sarma, accusing him of making the party a “Congress BJP” by bringing in his close associates from the grand old party and ignoring the old timers.

He quit the party and is likely to contest from the same constituency as an Independent, claiming that his supporters have collected the nomination papers.

The party also denied a ticket to sitting MLA and veteran politician Atul Bora, who has represented the BJP in the constituency twice since 2016 and served two terms as an AGP leader since 1985. Bora had also announced that he was considering contesting as an Independent but the chief minister rushed to his residence to placate him, though the veteran leader did not reveal anything about his future course of action.

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.

Bhattacharya, who was instrumental in bringing Sarma into the BJP in 2015, said that he was not angry with the party, though he was reticent about his involvement in the upcoming elections. Kalita was peeved with the denial and the chief minister rushed to his residence as well to placate him.

Bhattacharya has been replaced by Samaguri’s sitting MLA Diplu Ranjan Sarma, who rushed to the senior leader’s home to seek his ‘blessings’. The replacement of Kalita by veteran BJP leader Vijay Gupta has also raised the hackles of a section of the constituency’s electorate, as for the first time, a member of the Hindi-speaking community has been nominated for the seat.

Anger is also high in Bihpuria constituency, where Bhupen Borah has been given the seat, replacing sitting BJP MLA Amiya Kumar Bhuyan.

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 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 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 CM sent his cabinet colleague Jayanta Malla Baruah to soothe their nerves though the MLAs have not yet announced their future course of action.

Sarma, however, underplayed the situation, stating that there were 1,400 ticket aspirants and “it is not possible to accommodate all”.

He said the party prioritised fresh blood who worked hard to strengthen the party’s organisation at the grassroots level.

Sarma had earlier said that many sitting MLAs have been denied tickets mainly due to the delimitation exercise of 2023, which led to the realignment of many constituencies.

The party did not give tickets to 19 sitting MLAs.

BJP State president Dilip Saikia sought to downplay the protests by a section of leaders, saying that talks are underway with those denied tickets, and “I am sure they will understand”.

“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 said.

A senior party leader, on condition of anonymity, said there is resentment within a section of the party against former Congress members who have got tickets a few days after joining the BJP, while several veteran leaders, toiling for years, have been ignored.

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi had also alleged on Saturday that the BJP in the State was effectively a “Congress led by Sarma”.

The BJP, contesting 90 seats in the assembly polls, has given tickets to 28 former Congress members who joined the party since 2015 after Sarma’s departure from the saffron party.

Elections to the 126-member assembly will be held on April 9, and the votes will be counted on May 4.