TURA: One of the stalwarts of the BJP who helped the party grow in the Congress bastion of Williamnagar has tendered his resignation in protest against the decision of the party to nominate a former civil service officer to contest the upcoming polls.
District lawyer Jan N Arengh who was one of the aspirants for the party ticket, stepped down on Saturday after the BJP announced the candidature of retired Meghalaya Civil Servicde officer, Santosh R Marak.
“I don’t understand why my candidature was rejected. The party had said preference would be given to the candidate connected with the grass root. I toured every village under my constituency mobilising supporters and had helped enroll over 8000 new members into the BJP, but still I was overlooked in the selection. This is because unlike my opponent I do not have any lobby,” a dejected Arengh stated while speaking to The Shillong Times.
Denial of ticket to Arengh has led to a rebellion within the ranks of the party in Williamnagar constituency with as many as two hundred party workers publicly stepping down to display their anger over the ticket allotment.
Some of the key party functionaries who have marched off with Arengh include the BJP’s district vice president Bijon R Marak, district mahila president Lotika D Marak, mahila mandal president Drollin G Momin, mandal secretary Himat K Marak and several dozen booth committee and primary members of the party.
“I will be contesting the elections from Williamnagar as an Independent candidate,” announced Jan N Arengh.
Interestingly, both Santosh Marak and Jan Arengh had unsuccessfully contested previous assembly elections from different constituencies. While Santosh Marak secured the fourth position in the 2013 state elections from Williamnagar constituency in which Deborah Marak of the Congress emerged victorious, Jan Arengh was defeated in Barengapara (Dalu) constituency of West Garo Hills in the 2003 elections in which Samuel Sangma was the victor.