Guwahati: The ruling BJP and its allies will contest all three Rajya Sabha seats that will fall vacant in Assam in April this year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma said the coalition is confident of winning at least two of the three seats, while the outcome of the third remains uncertain. “The BJP, AGP and our united front will nominate candidates for all three seats. We will definitely win two. The third one we may win or lose,” he said.
The seats held by two BJP MPs, Bhubaneswar Kalita and Rameswar Teli, and one independent MP, Ajit Bhuyan, will fall vacant in April.
Sarma said the BJP and its allies had not put a candidate against Bhuyan last time as they thought that he was “neutral and will work for good”.
“But what he did with his Rajya Sabha MP funds, we all know,” the chief minister said, referring to allegations of irregularities in the utilisation of Bhuyan’s funds.
In the 126-member Assam Assembly, the BJP has 64 MLAs, while its allies — the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) — have nine, seven and three members respectively.
In the opposition camp, the Congress strength is 26, AIUDF has 15 members, and CPI (M) has one MLA. There is one Independent legislator in the House.
