Assam minister takes potshot against BJP old guards

Guwahati, May 14 Assam minister Jayanta Mallabaruah on Tuesday asserted that some of the old guards in the state BJP unit, who took a different stand disobeying the party line, will face disciplinary action once Lok Sabha polls are over in the country.

“Leaders associated with our party since 1950 have hardly devoted any time to the party. I joined the BJP in 2015 and since then I have been giving my everything to the party,” Mallabaruah told media persons.

Although the state cabinet minister did not take names, his salvo was aimed towards former union minister Rajen Gohain and ex-MLA from Nalbari Ashok Sharma.

Between 1991 and 2014, Gohain won the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat four times and represented the BJP in the lower house of the parliament.

However, he was denied a ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Later Gohain was given a cabinet rank post in the Assam government.

Post-delimitation exercise in Assam for redrawing boundaries of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in the state, Rajen Gohain took a hard stand against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

He alleged that the Assam Chief Minister made Nagaon a minority-dominated seat which was considered a BJP bastion for a very long time. The former union minister also left the cabinet-rank post in the state government.

This time, BJP has fielded Congress turncoat Suresh Borah in the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat which has of course further irked Rajen Gohain. He continued to attack the BJP state leadership during the poll campaign which drew criticism from other party leaders.

Meanwhile, it was alleged that Ashok Sharma did anti-party activities during the Lok Sabha poll campaign and BJP MP Dilip Saikia launched a sharp attack against Sharma.

Saikia said, “Ashok Sharma has worked against me in the Darrang-Udalguri Lok Sabha seat. It was informed to the top party leadership and an action against him will be soon initiated.”

Jayanta Mallabaruah echoed Saikia and said, “We can not keep everybody happy but the party workers who have been dedicatedly working should be given due respect.”

The Assam minister also claimed that the BJP has done well in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state.

“We are set to win at least 12 out of the total 14 Lok Sabha seats and the figure may go up to 13 as well,” he added.

--IANS

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