Central BJP leader meets sulking veterans in Assam

Feeling sidelined, the older crop of leaders have been critical of “newcomers not serious” about the party’s core ideology

Baijayant Panda. File. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

GUWAHATI

A Bharatiya Janata Party leader met a group of sulking veterans in Assam reportedly toward bridging an increasing gap between an older set of leaders and a newer crop.

Party insiders said the BJP’s national vice-president, Baijayant Panda had a closed-door meeting with two former State presidents, Rajen Gohain and Siddhartha Bhattacharya, in Guwahati on Tuesday.

 Rama Kanta Dewri, the party’s MLA from Morigaon constituency, former Nalbari MLA Ashok Sarma, and former State vice-president Manoj Ram Phukan were some other leaders present at the meeting.

Many of these leaders have been vocal about the newcomers rising to prominence in the party and the State despite “not being serious” about the BJP’s core ideology.

Mr. Gohain, a four-time MP, had also resigned as the chairman of the Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation to protest the delimitation of the State’s 126 Assembly and 14 Parliament seats. He was also critical of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and some young Ministers close to him.

“We shared our views with Pandaji about the party,” Mr. Bhattacharya told journalists on Wednesday.

Mr. Panda was learned to have reached Guwahati for the meeting on the instructions of BJP national president, J.P. Nadda.

Mr. Gohain said he had apprised Home Minister Amit Shah of his concerns and discussed the issues afflicting the party with him in New Delhi.

The BJP veterans have been complaining of being increasingly made to feel redundant with the party because of “imported” leaders. The indication was at the Chief Minister and several MLAs who crossed over from Congress less than a decade ago.