Guwahati ( Assam) Mar , 13 : With Assam assembly elections round the corner , Shiladitya Dev who was denied the BJP ticket and had resignned from BJP to contest as an independent candidate earlier this week has finally returned to the party’s fold.
Shiladitya was replaced by Ramakrishna Ghosh for the Hojai constituency. Following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, the assembly seat became BJP’s stronghold.
Shiladitya has also decided not to contest the elections after Assam Health minister Dr .Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP National General Secretary Dilip Saikia met him at his residence on Friday.
Shiladitya Dev decided to opt out of the elections considering that if Congress wins the upcoming polls then it will eventually lead to the dominance of AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, considering the alliance between the two parties.
Dev is among 12 legislators who have been denied election tickets this time. Instead, the saffron party has fielded fresh faces for their respective constituencies. Another MLA who raised the concern was Dilip Paul, a veteran BJP MLA who has already filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Silchar.
Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Shiladitya Dev will be involved in the party’s campaign and the party is trying to reach out to Dilip Paul to withdraw his nomination as an independent candidate and to return to the party .
Polling in Assam will take place in three phases, from March 27 to April 6 and Results will be declared on May 2.
(With PTI Inputs)
