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BJP leaders threaten to quit en masse

By Correspondent

DIBRUGARH, Sept 10 - In a major development, 13 BJP ticket seekers of Dibrugarh LAC and few other leaders on Wednesday said that they would collectively resign from the party if the sitting MLA, Prasanta Phukan, was given ticket from Dibrugarh seat for the Assembly elections again.

Some 13 MLA aspirants of the BJP and few others from the city here met the Union Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs, Sarbananda Sonowal, at his residence on Wednesday and demanded that Prasanta Phukan must not be considered for the Dibrugarh seat as his defeat was imminent due to his declining popularity. If the sitting MLA is chosen by any chance again for the forthcoming elections, the anti-Prasanta Phukan leaders told Sonowal that they along with other workers would resign from the party, sources told The Assam Tribune.

Among those who met the Union Minister included Sasanka Dev Phukan, Anil Dowerah, Dr Hemoprabha Borthakur, Dr Siddharth Sarma, Dr Saikat Patra, Simanta Baruah, Robin Bhuyan, Ujjal Phukan, Ujjal Kashyap, Manab Gogoi and Sudama Pandey. The leaders reportedly apprised the Union Minister about the rising revolt and factionalism among the party workers in the city due to the high-handedness of the MLA.

According to the source, the leaders told Sonowal that certain acts of the MLA had damaged the image of the BJP among the masses and the party workers too had been discouraged and demoralised.

They reminded him that the MLA�s most annoying behaviour was when he chose a politically immature and inefficient person to head the Dibrugarh Municipal Board (DMB). They said that the municipality under the present chairperson had totally failed in all spheres as there was growing resentment among the public. After the installation of the present DMB under the influence of MLA Prasanta Phukan, the group said that the image of the BJP had totally diminished and that the party would not win from the constituency if Prasanta Phukan was the contestant. There are several serious corruption allegations against him too.

When contacted, MLA Prasanta Phukan, who won the Dibrugarh LAC seat twice, said that people have the right to protest and object. �It is up to the party to decide who should contest from the constituency.�

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