Senior Assamcabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday indicated that the BJP might field a candidate for the third Rajya Sabha seat, as there “is an environment” to win all three.

It’s a remark the Opposition can ill-afford to ignore. There are at least two instances, in 2010 and 2014, when the then ruling Congress had won despite not having the numbers. Sarma, the then Congress’s go-to man in Assam, is said to have engineered the victories.

“The BJP has the environment to win the third seat. We will take a decision after a day, specially if the Congress projects a controversial candidate. Our first task is to ensure the victory of two candidates,” Sarma told reporters after Biswajit Daimary, the candidate for BPF, which is in alliance with the BJP and the AGP in Assam, filed his nomination. The BJP has fielded Bhubaneswar Kalita for one of the seats.

On anti-CAA activist and senior journalist Ajit Bhuyan being the joint Congress-AIUDF candidate, Sarma said it was “unfortunate”.

“If Ajit Bhuyan wants to stand on the same stage with Badruddin Ajmal, there is nothing more unfortunate. Did the intellectuals of Assam carry out the Citizenship Amendment Act agitation to become Rajya Sabha MP? It seems like he was dancing to his (Ajmal’s) tune,” Sarma said.

However, the Opposition can ignore Sarma’s hint only at their own peril. To win, a candidate will require 32 votes in the House of 126.

The Congress (23)-AIUDF (14) combine has 37 votes while the ruling alliance has 86 votes.

Additional reporting by our special correspondent