BJP won’t tolerate being blackmailed: Ranjit Kumar Dass

Guwahati, November 26, 2018:

As pressure mounts on the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to pull out of the state’s three-party coalition government, BJP’s Assam unit president Ranjit Kumar Dass on Monday categorically said that the saffron party would not tolerate being “blackmailed”.

Asked if the BJP favours severing its ties with the AGP, Dass said, “While we support a rainbow-like alliance, we will not tolerate being blackmailed by somebody. The BJP has over 60 MLAs. So, if someone blackmails the party, it amounts to blackmailing the people of Assam”.

Despite being in the government, the AGP took a position against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which the BJP wants to pass to legalise the stay of non-Muslim immigrants who migrated to Assam till December 31, 2014. This is the root cause of the conflict between the two parties.

Dass said the comments of the state’s Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that the AGP was at liberty to pull out of the alliance was the official stand of the BJP.

Meanwhile, opposition Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) slammed the AGP for “shamelessly” hanging on to power despite being “insulted” publicly by the BJP.

“If they (AGP) have skin, they should pull out of the alliance and the state government. How much more do they want to be insulted?” AIUDF chief and Dhubri MP, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, asked.

He said the AGP was hungry for power. As they have tasted power, they have not been able to come out of the alliance, Ajmal said.

The Congress too was critical of the AGP for holding onto power despite being insulted by the BJP.

“There cannot be anything more insulting (than what Sarma had said). If they (AGP) have self-respect, they should not waste a minute in pulling out their support to the government,” Congress leader and former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.