Delhi,/Guwahati: The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 88 candidates for the April 9 Assam Assembly polls, confirming Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s sixth consecutive bid from Jalukbari, besides accommodating two high-profile recent entrants from the Congress.
The list has put to rest speculation over Sarma’s seat, with the party once again fielding him from Jalukbari, a constituency he has held since 2001. Sarma, who first won the seat thrice as a Congress candidate before crossing over to the BJP in 2015, retained it in the 2016 and 2021 elections and is now eyeing a sixth straight win.
The BJP leadership is learnt to be strongly backing the firebrand leader, who is expected to continue as Chief Minister if the party returns to power in Assam.
The first list also bring into focus the BJP’s aggressive poaching of Congress leaders in the state. Former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah and two-time Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi, both of whom recently quit the Congress and joined the BJP, have been rewarded with tickets.
Borah has been fielded from Bihpuria, while Bordoloi will contest from Dispur. Sitting BJP MLAs Amiya Kumar Bhuyan (Bihpuria) and Atul Bora (Dispur) have been dropped to make way for the two newcomers.
Their exits have deepened the crisis in the Congress, which is now led in the state by Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi. Last month, Borah publicly criticised Gogoi’s leadership before switching over to the BJP.
On Tuesday, Bordoloi resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP, saying he felt “insulted” and that the Congress leadership did not support him.
Reacting to Bordoloi’s departure, Gogoi termed it “an unfortunate decision”. “Just two years ago, the Congress Party offered him the opportunity to contest the Lok Sabha ticket from Nagaon… and in this present election, the Congress Party offered an opportunity to a member of his family to contest the Vidhan Sabha elections. Despite that, he made a decision which is his personal decision,” he said, as reported by NDTV.
Among other prominent names, state ministers Pijush Hazarika, Jayanta Malla Baruah, Ashok Singhal, Ajanta Neog, Chandramohan Patwari and Rupesh Gowala have retained their seats. Nandita Garlosa has not been renominated from Haflong. Former state BJP chief and ex-minister Siddartha Bhattacharya has been denied a ticket from Gauhati East, while Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary will contest from Tamulpur.
Former Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami has been fielded from Jorhat, where he will take on state Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi
