Ajmal’s communal campaign helped me win, says Nagaon BJP MP Devasish Sharma

Nagaon BJP MP Devasish Sharma has alleged that AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal approached voters along communal lines during the Nagaon bypoll campaign, claiming that the approach was not acceptable to the electorate and may have worked in his favour.

In an exclusive interview with India Today NE Executive Editor Sunil Borah, Sharma said he could not say whether Ajmal had directly helped him win the election, as the AIUDF chief was himself contesting against him. However, he suggested that Ajmal’s campaign approach had influenced the outcome.

“I don't know whether Ajmal helped me or not, as he was contesting the election against me. But it helped me in the results because Ajmal approached voters in a communal manner with the agenda of getting votes, and it was never acceptable,” Sharma said.

He also predicted that the AIUDF, like the Congress, would eventually disappear, adding, “Like Congress, even Ajmal's party will also disappear.”

Addressing questions about how he secured support in a constituency with a substantial Muslim electorate, Sharma attributed his victory to the relationships he had built with voters over the past four-and-a-half years.

“It is a relationship with the voters for the last four-and-a-half years. I have been associated with several cancer patients and survivors, and they loved me, so they voted for me,” he said.

Sharma also credited the BJP's vision and the guidance of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his electoral success.

Responding to allegations that he had used his tenure as Deputy Commissioner of Morigaon and Nagaon to prepare for a political career and contest the election on a BJP ticket, Sharma maintained that government officials were duty-bound to work with the state government and implement its schemes.

“In politics, allegations, love and everything else will be there. But you must see how minority people came out in support of me and how they voted for the first time, whereas in the early days we used to get the bare minimum votes,” he said.

Sharma said he had not planned to contest the bypoll, although he had been interested in politics since his college days, when he also studied political science.

“Sometimes things come into one's life suddenly. It is not that I was not attracted to politics. From college days, we saw politics and also studied political science. Some things are written in your stars, and it is my destiny,” he said.