The sitting BJP MPs from Assam who were denied party tickets will be given key posts in the party, said BJP national general secretary in-charge of the Northeast, Ram Madhav, on Sunday.
He said this time the party has replaced some of its sitting MPs with fresh faces but these sitting MPs will now work in important positions in the party to strengthen its position in the state.
The BJP has dropped five of its seven sitting MPs in Assam, including a Union minister.
Two of them, Tezpur MP Ram Prasad Sarmah and Nagaon MP and minister of state for railways Rajen Gohain, had made their resentment public. The other three sitting MPs who were dropped are Bijoya Chakravarty, Ramen De-ka and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa.
The move to rehabilitate these sitting MPs is being seen as an attempt to stem any dissension ahead of the polls.
Madhav launched a scathing attack on the Congress and said the main Opposition party does not have any issue to take on the Modi government. “It is banking on lies and Pakistan. The comments of Congress leaders are more retweeted and publicised by the people of the neighbouring country than our own. The Congress might win an election in Pakistan if it contests from there,” the leader said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was poised to win a second term in office.
According to him, the Congress was feeling insecure in Assam due to the strong leadership of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Neda convener Himanta Biswa Sarma. He exuded confidence that the BJP and its allies would win 20 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the Northeast, including Sikkim.
Madhav was confident of a BJP victory in the Assembly polls in Arunachal Pradesh as well. “The BJP is going to have its first elected government in Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.
He said the BJP will be contesting all four Lok Sabha seats in Manipur and Tripura and will support the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) candidate in the lone parliamentary seat in Nagaland.
The party on Sunday reiterated its stand on an autonomous state comprising Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts of the state, adding that party would seriously consider the matter once it comes to power.
State BJP chief Ranjeet Das and Madhav, accompanied by leaders of the Karbi Anglong autonomous council, addressed more than 10,000 party workers of the two districts, in Karbi Anglong’s district headquarters Diphu.
“We hope Diphu will be free from the Congress after 15 years. We are going to reach at least 11 seats in Assam this time,” Das said.
“We promise to fulfil the dream once the BJP comes to power in the centre for the second term,” Madhab said.
“Statehood is still a dream for the people of the region. For political parties it is an issue which should be reiterated in party meetings. They finish their job after submitting at least one memorandum a year in New Delhi,” said Sarthe Rangpi, a Diphu school teacher. This time the BJP announced Haren Singh Bey as its party candidate. Bey was also present in the meeting.
Additional reporting by Sarat Sarma in Nagaon
