Guwahati: To keep one of its bastions intact, Assam Chief Minister Himanta intervened to quell the rebellion among the BJP in the Dholai constituency and forced former BJP leader Amiya Kanti Das to withdraw his nominations as an Independent candidate for the November 13 by-election.
The Chief Minister rushed his cabinet colleague Jayanta Malla Baruah to Dholai to ensure that the former BJP leader, who had resigned from the saffron party, after being denied a ticket to contest the by-election, took back his nomination as an independent candidate.
After having a meeting with Jayanta Malla Baruah at a guest house in Dholai, Amiya Kanti Das along with the Baruah went to the office of the returning officer and withdrew his nomination as an Independent candidate.
Das resigned from the BJP after the saffron party announced Nihar Ranjan Das as the candidate for Dholai by-election. Along with Amiya Kanti Das, hundreds of the party workers also resigned from the BJP in Dholai. After his resignation, Amiya Kanti said that he had resigned as the party had not given him the ticket and accused that he was denied the ticket due to favouritism of Silchar Lok Sabha MP Parimal Shuklabaidya.
"I have withdrawn my candidature as an Independent after a discussion with Jayanta Malla Baruah. I got emotional when denied a ticket but for us party comes first and the individual comes later. So I have decided to withdraw my candidature as an Independent," said Amiya Kanti Das on Monday.
Amiya Kanti Das has been a dedicated party worker. There was some misunderstanding but when I spoke to him today, he agreed to withdraw the resignation and his nomination as an independent candidate. For all the BJP workers, the party comes first and the individual comes later. So the misunderstanding is cleared and there is no division in the party now. Amiya Kanti Das has been reinstated, said Baruah.
The rift between the Nihar Ranjan and Amiya Kanti indicated a probable division of votes in the Dholai constituency, which was a forte of the saffron party since 1991. While the BJP retained the seat mostly from 1985 till 2021 barring a gap of two terms where Congress candidate Girindra Mallick won the seat in 1996 and 2011.
The BJP and its alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples' Party-Liberal (UPPL) are following a seat-sharing agreement for the November 13 byelection to the five legislative assembly constituencies -- Dholai, Bongaigaon, Samaguri, Behali and Sidli. While the BJP has fielded its own candidates in Dholai, Behali and Samaguri, its partners AGP has fielded a candidate in Bongaigaon followed by UPPL fielding a candidate in Sidli constituency.
While the BJP has quelled the dissidence among the party in Dholai, the party is likely to suffer in Behali as one of the party's ticket aspirants Jayanta Bora had joined the Congress after being denied a ticket to contest the by-election. BJP gave a ticket to Diganta Ghatowar for the Behali by-election.
BJP's alliance partners AGP and UPPL could also suffer dissidence in Bongaigaon and Sidli constituencies this time. Hundreds of saffron party workers had resigned from the party in Bongaigaon after the AGP nominated Diptimpyee Choudhury, wife of Phanibhushan Choudhury, who had retained the seat for eight consecutive terms since 1985.
Phanibhushan Choudhury resigned from the seat earlier this year after being elected to Lok Sabha from Barpeta constituency.
UPPL is also facing some dissidence after the party gave a ticket to Nirmal Kumar Brahma. It was learnt that former Minister and BPF leader Chandan Brahma had earlier resigned from BPF and joined the UPPL and was also a contender for the UPPL ticket in the constituency. Brahma had even collected the nomination papers but he was denied a ticket by the UPPL.
