NEW DELHI, March 21: The BJP on Thursday announced candidates for 187 constituencies, including Assam.
As reported by this newspaper, the BJP has dropped five sitting MPs retaining only Pradan Barua (Lakimpur) and Rameswar Telli (Dibrugarh).
However, the BJP has kept Tezpur and Nagaon seats pending, keeping alive hopes for RP Sharma and MoS Rajen Gohain. Sharmah has resigned from the primary membership of the party and Rajen Gohain has opted out of the race till his name is cleared by the court.
Kripanath Mallah has been nominated for Karimganj seat, Dr Rajdeep Roy (Silchar),
Queen Ojha (Guwahati), Dilip Saikia (Mangaldai) and Tapan Gogoi for Jorhat seat.
In neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, Tapir Gaon has been nominated for Arunachal (West) and MoS Kiren Rijiju for Arunachal (West).
Meanwhile, in an apparent bid to placate State Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was denied a ticket from Tezpur Lok Sabha seat, BJP national president Amit Shah tweeted that Assam State Election Committee had recommended Sarma�s name to contest Lok Sabha seat.
However, the NEDA chairman has been given the responsibility of development of the North-east and coordination between Centre and the North Eastern States.
He should contribute towards the development of North-east and strengthen the party in the region.
