NEW DELHI, May 27 - The BJP on Monday nominated former Lok Sabha member Kamakhya Prasad Tasa as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Assam. The opposition Congress and the AIUDF will not field any candidate in the upcoming polls for the two Rajya Sabha seats of Assam.
A BJP spokesman said that the party�s Central Election Committee decided to nominate Tasa to the Rajya Sabha.
However, the decision caught many party members by surprise because Tasa would be the fourth candidate from the tea community to be sent to Parliament. Three members of the community � Pallab Lochan Das, Kripanath Mallah and Rameswar Teli � have been elected to the Lok Sabha. A BJP source said Tasa�s nomination to the Upper House of Parliament indicates the importance given to the tea community by the BJP.
Once considered the bastion of the Congress party, the BJP has managed to break the Congress stronghold among the tea community. A senior Congress leader like Paban Singh Ghatowar suffered defeat at the hands of the BJP for the second time in a row.
The BJP has already given the second Rajya Sabha seat from Assam to the Asom Gana Parishad, which has nominated Birendra Prasad Baishya for the post.
Our Staff Reporter adds: The Congress and the AIUDF will not field any candidate in the upcoming polls for two of the Rajya Sabha seats of Assam. �We will not contest the Rajya Sabha elections. We do not have the numbers in the Legislative Assembly,� said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora.
The AIUDF has also decided to refrain from contesting the polls. �A meeting of our party�s coordination committee was held on Sunday evening where it was decided not to contest the Rajya Sabha polls,� said AIUDF general secretary Haidor Hussain Bora.
