Guwahati:
The BJP will contest 11 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Assam, leaving three for its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), Prime Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.
Among the other northeastern states, it will support the NDPP candidate in Nagaland while the details are being worked out in the other states, said Sarma, who is also chairman of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
The AGP will contest against Barpeta and Dhubri, while UPPL will field its candidate in Kokrajhar. The allies will support each other's candidates in all fourteen constituencies in Assam, Sarma said.
“Yesterday, BJP state chief Bhabesh Kalita and I had a meeting with our National President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and our National General Secretary BL Santosh during which seat sharing was discussed,” he told a press conference at the party . head office here.
He said UPPL had asked for the Kokrajhar seat, to which the BJP had agreed.
“The AGP, which has its base across the state, wanted more seats. But I have conveyed to them the request of our central leadership to contest from two seats this time and they have obliged us to do so,” the CM said.
“Of the total of fourteen seats, we are optimistic that we can win eleven. We will also fight tooth and nail in the other three,” he said.
The BJP has nine MPs in the outgoing Lok Sabha from the state, while the AGP and UPPL have no representation.
The Congress has three seats and the AIUDF one, while the other has an independent candidate.
Sarma said the BJP parliamentary board will finalize the list of its party candidates, adding that no “report card” will be taken from sitting MPs and candidates will be decided through “open discussion”.
He said that some sitting MPs have expressed a wish not to participate in the elections, preferring to spend more time on party activities, and therefore few new faces can be expected.
Asked about the alleged tussle between Congress MPs Pradyut Bordoloi and Gaurav Gogoi over the Nagaon constituency, Sarma said, “The Nagaon seat is fragmented due to delimitation. Who will contest for Congress from there is for the party to decide.” Bordoloi currently holds the Nagaon seat, while Gogoi represents neighboring Kaliabor, much of which has become part of the newly created Kaziranga constituency after delimitation.
On the projection of Nagaon as a minority-dominated seat, the CM said, “It should not be called that. It is the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardeva (Vaishnavite saint). I don't want to defame a place that is sacred to us.” .
“We should not label a place as majority- or minority-dominated,” he added.
In Nagaland, the BJP will support the candidate of its ally Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Sarma said.
Discussions are underway in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, the NEDA convenor added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)