In Assam, BJP picks two old loyalists for Rajya Sabha polls

Guwahati, Aug 21 (IANS) The BJP has chosen two old loyalists as candidates in Assam for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The ruling party has sufficient strength in terms of numbers and thus the opposition refrained from fielding candidates for the two vacant berths in the upper house of the parliament from Assam.

The BJP has shortlisted former Union Minister Rameshwar Teli and ex-MLA Mission Ranjan Das as Rajya Sabha candidates.

Rameshwar Teli has a long association with the BJP and has won the Assembly election twice from Duliajan seat on the party ticket. He represented the constituency consecutively between 2001 and 2011.

He lost to Amiya Gogoi in the 2011 Assembly polls when there was a strong wave in favour of the Congress in the state. Teli was fielded by the BJP from Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He defeated Congress heavyweight and former minister Paban Singh Ghatowar by a formidable margin. He was made a Food Processing Industries from 2019 to 2020 and Minister of State of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Labour and Employment in the Narendra Modi government from 2021 to 2024. However, Rameswar Teli was denied a ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after another BJP heavyweight Sarbananda Sonowal was fielded by the party in Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat. As a party loyalist, Rameshwar Teli did not express any disappointment with the decision and he campaigned vigorously for Sonowal in the elections.

It was expected that Rameshwar Teli would get a Rajya Sabha berth after Sonowal vacated his Upper House seat after being elected in the Lok Sabha.

On the other hand, Mission Ranjan Das is a four-time MLA of the BJP from Karimganj district and he is a popular Bengali leader. Das represented the BJP in the Assembly when the party had very little strength in the state.

In the 2011 Assembly polls, Das lost to Congress candidate Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha. The BJP leader was again given a ticket in the 2016 Assembly elections, but he lost to Purkayastha again.

Although Das demanded a ticket in the 2021 Assembly polls as well, he was denied.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the senior BJP leader expressed interest to contest polls but he was not fielded by the party.

The BJP has a strong base among Bengali voters in the Barak Valley region; however, no leader from this region has been ever elected to the Upper House of the Parliament on a BJP ticket. This time, there was a strong demand for giving a ticket to a Hindu Bengali leader for the Rajya Sabha polls.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma congratulated both the Rajya Sabha nominees of the party.

Taking to X, Sarma wrote, “I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Shri Mission Ranjan Das and Shri @Rameswar_Teli, both exemplary choices to represent Assam in the upcoming Rajya Sabha Elections. Their distinguished service to society and unwavering commitment to strengthening our organization make them outstanding candidates.”

–IANS

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