Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said he is grateful to BJP president Amit Shah for trusting him with the task of strengthening the party in the north-eastern region.
In a tweet on Thursday night, Mr. Sarma said he accepted Mr. Shah’s request not to contest the Lok Sabha election in order to concentrate on the “bigger responsibility” of shepherding the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), an anti-Congress grouping of regional parties, and ensuring victory in maximum seats in the region.
“I am grateful for the trust you have shown in me. I accept your decision [not to let him contest] humbly. The northeast will not disappoint you at a time when the country has decided to make @narendramodi the Prime Minister again,” he wrote on Twitter in Hindi and Assamese.
His comments were in response to Mr. Shah’s tweet that he had dissuaded Mr. Sarma from contesting the election in the greater interest of the NEDA and the BJP. Mr. Shah also admitted that the BJP’s election committee in Assam had proposed Mr. Sarma’s name for one of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies. The proposal made Ram Prasad Sarmah, the BJP MP from Tezpur, resign from the primary membership of the party. On Friday, however, Mr. Sarmah said the party had not accepted his resignation yet and collected his nomination papers.
The Congress asked Mr. Sarma why he swallowed the humiliation from the BJP leadership. “When the Minister was asked not to contest to carry out his responsibility of delivering more than 20 Lok Sabha seats in the region, why is the BJP president contesting from Gujarat when he has the responsibility of delivering most seats across the country,” party spokesperson Rituparna Konwar said on social media.
