GUWAHATI: The BJP trashed reports that denial of tickets to 11 MLAs and other aspirants has triggered dissidence in the party. Supporters of these MLAs, including a minister, and others have vented their ire in public. Some who missed the bus are mulling contesting polls as representatives of other parties or independents.
The ruling party has played this down. “This happens in every election. Candidates are selected keeping in mind the best interest of the party and overall picture,” BJP’s Assam unit chief Ranjit Kumar Dass said on Sunday at a joint press conference with AGP and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). The three parties are in an alliance.
Dass claimed that people believe in BJP and AGP, as the state government has succeeded in all spheres in the past five years. BJP heads the coalition government which also had Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) as a constituent. BJP’s ties with BPF have soured and the saffron party has found a new ally in UPPL. BPF has joined hands with Congress and become part of a seven-party opposition alliance.