NEW DELHI, March 28 � In a major setback to the BPF, its four-time Lok Sabha MP and senior leader Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmutiary today announced his decision to fight as an Independent candidate from the Kokrajhar (ST) seat.
Expressing his anger on being denied ticket, the BPF MP attacked BTC chairman and party president Hagrama Mohilary. �He (Hagrama) has deliberately committed the blunder with the ulterior motive of getting his sister, MLA Pramila Rani Brahma, re-inducted as Cabinet minister in place of Chandan Brahma,� he said.
With Bwiswmutiary set to contest as an Independent candidate, the election for the Kokrajhar constituency is interestingly poised. The BPF has fielded State Transport Minister Chandan Brahma, while the non-Bodos have fielded surrendered ULFA militant Hira Sarania.
Sansuma said that he has decided to contest the ensuing election as an Independent candidate following requests by a large number of electorates and supporters of BPF. �Mohilary�s gameplan would backfire and his ulterior motives would be defeated by the people,� Sansuma said in a statement released in Delhi.
Meanwhile, talking to this newspaper over telephone from Kokrajhar, Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary described Sansuma�s decision as unfortunate. He appealed to the veteran leader to reconsider his decision in the larger interest of the party. �It is not that he can fight for creation of the Bodoland State only as an MP. There are other options the party was considering for him,� he said.
Daimary said that if the MP had any issues with the party chief, he should have raised it earlier within the party forum and not when he was denied party ticket.
