Breaking: BJP not to Field Candidate for 3rd Rajya Sabha Seat in Assam

Guwahati, March 13, 2020:

Ahead of the March 26 Rajya Sabha elections, Assam BJP's most active Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, breaking some new information has said that the saffron party will not contest the third seat, for which the opposition has fielded veteran journalist and anti-CAA activist Ajit Kumar Bhuyan.

Bhuyan, who has been brutally outspoken in his utter contempt for the amendment of the Citizenship Act, rose to the fore after reaching every nook and cranny of Assam to spread awareness about the 'jati' destroying Bill. Bhuyan's staunch opposition to the Bill-turned-Act has earned him the ire of many, including the members of the current BJP-led administration.

Biswajit Daimary of the Bodoland People's Front and former Congress leader Bhubaneshwar Kalita, along with Bhuyan, filed their nomination papers earlier today. Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was a part of the BJP contingent who went to attend the filing of nomination papers, said that the party has no intentions of filing nomination for a third candidate.

"We don't want to manage UDF votes and win the elections", Himanta said, and added that there is no question of the BJP contesting the polls by forging an alliance with Ajmal. The Minister, the biggest supporter of the CAA in the upper echelons of power in Assam, also lambasted anti-CAA activist Ajit Kumar Bhuyan. He said, "I pity him. If only for Rajya Sabha seat, he was doing everything, I think he should have joined Ajmal's party (the AIUDF) earlier".

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Himanta Biswa Sarma also informed that Rajdeep Gowalla, a Congress MLA representing Lakhipur Constituency, will defect to the BJP after breaking away from his former party. The Minister also said that apart from Gowalla, many others will also join the BJP party.

Earlier, reports started doing the rounds that Atanu Bhuyan, a prominent journalist from Assam, would contest for the third Rajya Sabha seat, reportedly under patronage of the BPF. It was reported that the BJP would seek to wrest the seat away from the opposition parties through "horse trading", thereby breaking the opposition's morale ahead of the Assembly election. However, now, Biswa Sarma has said that the candidature of Atanu would not be supported by any of the ruling parties in the alliance: AGP, BJP, and BPF.

3-time former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi yesterday said that the Rajya Sabha poll is a "semifinal" ahead of the 2021 Assembly Elections in Assam. Weighing in on the situation,Himanta has rebuked the alliance between Tarun Gogoi and Badruddin Ajmal ahead of the polls.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA and leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia has appealed the BJP not to do "horse trading" and let the opposition parties have their MP in the Upper House.

It is pertinent to mention here that the may be mentioned here that the Opposition comprising the Congress with 23 MLAs and perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) with 14 MLAs can bag the third seat only if they field a consensus candidate and there is cross-voting. The BJP, that has 86 legislators, is confident of winning the tBiswajit wo other seats. The three seats are to be vacated by Bhubaneswar Kalita, Sanjay Sinh and Biswajit Daimary in April. Kalita and Singh are former Congressmen who went on to join the BJP.

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