Against the backdrop of growing resentment among Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) members over the seat-sharing equation for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, senior BJP leaders in New Delhi said that on the basis of the ‘give and take’ principle the seat-sharing issue was settled.
“We have given a few of our seats and took some of their seats in Assam,” said a senior BJP leader who did not wish to be named.
Interestingly, 12 sitting BJP MLAs also denied the ticket this time.
“We are giving tickets to some new faces. In a survey we conducted in Assam, we have found that all the MLAs have done good work. However, there was a demand from the people to replace some of the sitting MLAs with new faces. Accordingly, we decided to give tickets to 11 new faces,” Assam BJP president Ranjeet Dass to Northeast Now.
The former chief minister and sitting AGP MLA from the Barahampur constituency, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has also been denied a ticket this time.
BJP candidate Jitu Goswami will contest from Barahampur.
He said that BJP and alliance partners are targeting 100+ seats in the forthcoming election in Assam.
“We are confident of getting 100+ seats in the state,” said Das sidelining the challenge being posed by the grand alliance of opposition parties.
State BJP president Das will be contesting from the Patacharkuchi Assembly constituency.
“In 2011, BJP fought from Pathacharkuchi. In the 2016 election, AGP got the seat and now we decided to take back the seat,” said Dass.
“For example, AIUDF does not have any base in Upper Assam. In Bodoland, UPPL is the major party. People of the state want the BJP to come back to power,” said Dass.
The BJP on Friday released the lists of candidates for 70 seats for the 1st and 2nd phase of elections in Assam.
BJP will contest in 92 seats of the 126 while its ally AGP and UPPL will field candidates in 26 and 8 seats respectively.