GUWAHATI, March 1 - The ruling BJP has welcomed the Centre's decision to undertake delimitation exercise in the State.
�We welcome it. Delimitation took place in most of the states earlier but it could not be carried out here due to some reasons. The State has witnessed population growth and so delimitation is necessary,� State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass told reporters here today.
He added that delimitation is a constitutional process and there is nothing political about it. �Politically, BJP has nothing to gain or lose from delimitation,� Dass said.
The Centre had on Friday ordered delimitation exercise in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland citing improvement in the internal security situation. Delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies was conducted in other states in 2008. Regarding the forthcoming elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam, Dass said that BJP will contest from one seat and leave one for its ally BPF.
Asked about the third seat, he said, �If the Congress and the AIUDF cannot decide on a joint candidate, then we will be able to win that seat as well. But Congress and AIUDF are two sides of a coin and they had understanding among themselves earlier as well. So there is a possibility they can join hands again.�
Dass, however, added that no decision has yet been taken regarding whether the BJP will also field its candidates for the third seat or not.
Dass claimed that the recent anti-CAA protest have not impacted BJP prospects and organizational base in Assam.
�I recently conducted a series of meetings in eight opposition controlled Assembly constituencies of Upper Assam and received unprecedented response from the masses. Yes, initially when the protests began in December there were certain issues and people did get swayed a bit. But now the effect of the rumours has dissipated. Our recent rally at Dibrugarh was attended by 1.5 lakh people,� said the State BJP chief.
