Assam: Irked after ticket snub, BJP legislators resign from party

GUWAHATI:

BJP MLAs Dilip Kumar Paul (Silchar) and Shiladitya Dev (Hojai) have quit the party after being denied tickets to contest in the upcoming Assam Assembly elections.

The saffron party has instead fielded Dipayan Chakraborty for Silchar and Ramakrishna Ghosh for Hojai.

Earlier on Wednesday, the outspoken Hojai MLA, who had been associated with the BJP for 30 years, hinted that he would resign and did not mince words to say that "a big conspiracy not to give me a ticket was hatched a few years back," adding that his push for the Hindutva agenda had a bearing on the party's decision.

The development came as a rude shock for the supporters of Dev in Hojai, who went berserk, tearing poll campaign posters of the BJP leaders.

Also Read: People of Assam will vote for a corruption-free government: MLA

Meanwhile, expressing resentment over the snub, Silchar MLA Paul announced he would contest the poll as an Independent candidate.

Addressing a media conference in Silchar on Wednesday evening, Paul said he had been associated with the BJP since 1983 and never imagined that the party, for which he worked tirelessly for over three decades, would treat him in the manner which it did.

"I am deeply hurt. The treatment I received was not expected," he said.

Paul alleged that the BJP leadership did not give him a ticket "to save the syndicates/rackets which facilitate illegal transportation of coal, fertilisers, betel nuts and stones in Barak Valley."

He also claimed that drugs and arms were also smuggled to the valley.

"I had raised my voice from time to time against syndicates running clandestine activities in Barak Valley," he claimed.