In Assam, 1 BJP MLA comes back to fold, another to contest as Independent

The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership in Assam on Friday convinced a rebel MLA to come back to the party fold while it failed to stop another from contesting the coming polls as an Independent candidate.

Shiladiyta Dev, the vocal and controversial legislator from Hojai, who had resigned from the party after being denied a ticket, decided not to contest as an Independent after a meeting with BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“Media has been reporting about Dev’s resignation from the party. I would like to inform that Dev has been a BJP worker, is a BJP worker and will remain a BJP worker. He will campaign for party candidates across Assam and in Hojai and Lumding,” Sarma told journalists with Dev accompanying him.

Dev had submitted his resignation to the party on Wednesday after BJP decided to field Ram Krishna Ghosh from the Hojai seat. Dev is among the 12 sitting BJP MLAs in Assam who have been denied a ticket this time in favour of new faces.

“Dev is a known face in Assam politics. His development work in Hojai is known to everyone. But since BJP is a national party and we had to take certain decisions (keeping everything in perspective). Therefore, it was decided to give the ticket from Hojai to Ram Krishna Ghosh,” Saikia said.

“While Ghosh will be the candidate, Dev will help in the election. There is no difference among us now. The party has decided to give Dev a very important and respectable position either in party or in government very soon,” he added.

Dev has been very vocal in the past on problems faced by Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, problems in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) and non-implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

“I have decided not to contest as an Independent candidate in order to prevent Ajmal’s (AIUDF president) influence in Hojai. If I contest as an Independent, BJP could not have won and the Congress-AIUDF would have benefitted. That’s why after lot of thought, I decided on not contesting,” Dev told journalists adding that it’s for the party to take a call on his resignation.

While Sarma and the BJP leadership were able to pacify Dev, they failed to stop former deputy speaker of assembly and sitting MLA from Silchar Dilip Kumar Paul, who resigned from the party on Wednesday for being denied a ticket, from filing nomination on Friday as an Independent candidate.

“I have nothing against BJP’s national leadership, but we all know what is happening with the party in Assam. I have decided to contest due to wishes of the voters in the area who want me to represent them again,” said Paul.

BJP has given the Silchar ticket to Dipayan Chakraborty, a close associate of the party Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy. Paul had alleged that he was denied the ticket as he was opposed to corrupt practices of Roy and Chakraborty.

Another sitting BJP MLA, Sum Ronghang, who was a cabinet minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal cabinet, has already resigned from the party after denial of ticket. He will now contest as the Congress candidate from the Diphu seat.