The Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam may placate one of five MPs denied ticket for the just concluded Lok Sabha elections with a nomination for the Rajya Sabha.
Two of Assam’s seven Rajya Sabha seats will be vacanted after the six-year tenure of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Santiuse Kujur – both of Congress – ends on June 14. Dr. Singh has been a constant from Assam since 1991.
The 126 members of the Assam Assembly are scheduled to elect members to the two seats on June 7. Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the BJP has finalised the nomination for one seat while the other could be given to a candidate of regional ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
“Kamakhya Prasad Tassa may be a candidate,” he told The Hindu , indicating the party still has plans for the Adivasi leader. Mr. Tassa, the BJP parliamentarian representing the Jorhat constituency, was not given a ticket this time. The BJP fielded State Power Minister Tapan Kumar Gogoi, who won the seat.
Along with Mr. Tassa, the party replaced four other MPs – veterans Rajen Gohain (Nowgong), Bijoya Chakravarty (Gauhati) and Ramen Deka (Mangaldoi), and Ram Prasad Sarmah (Tezpur).
There had been speculations that the BJP could ignore the AGP if the latter failed to win any of the three Lok Sabha seats it had contested. The AGP won none, but the BJP has “chosen to honour” its friendship by virtually assuring a Rajya Sabha seat for the regional party.
AGP president and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora said that his party would field former MP Birendra Prasad Baishya in one of the two seats falling vacant.
