Guwahati: Ruling BJP in Assam will field candidates for the two Rajya Sabha seats. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma confirmed that the party will field his wife, Mehtab Chandee for the upcoming Gambegre bypoll.
These seats fell vacant following the election of Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal from Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat in the recently held election. Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Tassa has relinquished his seat after he was elected from Kaziranga seat in the parliamentary polls.
There will be by polls in five Assembly seats. BJP is likely to contest three seats and leave one each for its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).
The bye-poll will be held in the five assembly constituencies of Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali, and Samaguri. The by-elections have been necessitated as the MLAs of the five constituencies have been elected as members of Parliament in the recently held elections for the 18th Lok Sabha.
Assam BJP president Bhabesh Kalita said that 10 aspirants have applied for two Rajya Sabha seats. All the names are being forwarded to the central parliamentary committee for a final decision.
Kalita said, “Among those seeking party tickets are former Union minister Rameshwar Teli, former MPs Rajdeep Roy and Topon Gogoi, incumbent MLA Manab Deka and former MLA Mission Ranjan Das”.
He said, “The state election committee meeting, attended by Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and state in-charge Harish Dwivedi, among others, discussed the matter in detail. We have decided to forward all the names to the central parliamentary committee for a final decision.”
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “There will be two notifications for two seats of Rajya Sabha and BJP and its allies will comfortably wrest both the seats as it requires a simple majority.”
He said that he has not decided if the proposed reshuffle of council of ministers in Assam will be carried out before the by polls.
Post Lok Sabha election results Sarma has announced to carry out a reshuffle on or before August 15.
Recently Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma joined Congress along with hundreds of his supporters.
At a joining programme the senior BJP leader took the membership of Congress in the presence of its deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, state president Bhupen Kumar Borah, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia along with AICC leaders Prithviraj Sathe and Vikas Upadhyay.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Sunday confirmed that the party will field his wife, Mehtab Chandee for the upcoming Gambegre bypoll.
Addressing a public meeting at Gambegre, Sangma said the decision to field his wife was taken based on public demand. She (Mehtab) has never been in active politics and kept herself away from politics even after their marriage.
“But now it is the people who want her to contest the bypoll,” Sangma said while assuring all-round development for Gambegre if they vote for his wife in the bye-election.
He also assured that the people of Gambegre will have direct access to him if they give the mandate to his wife to represent the constituency.
“Having direct access to the CM’s office is very crucial since the constituency needs a lot of developmental work,” Sangma said.
