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GUWAHATI: Former BJP candidate, Bakul Chandra Hajong has confirmed that he would not contest the Ampati by-poll, even as an Independent, saying that he respected the high command’s decision not to field any candidate from the party. The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, of which the BJP is a part, has decided to put up a consensus candidate, Clement G Momin from National People’s Party against former chief minister, Mukul Sangma’s daughter, Miani D Shira, in the May 28 election. “I was informed by state BJP president, Shibun Lyngdoh on Wednesday evening of the high command’s decision not to field any candidate from the party as the MDA, which BJP is a part of, had opted for a consensus candidate. I also dropped the idea of contesting as an Independent in the event of missing out on a party ticket, as I had to respect the decision of the high command as a matter of discipline. Besides, I have been a BJP member for only eight months now,” a candid Hajong told The Shillong Times on Thursday, which was the last day of filing of nominations for the poll. A retired sericulture director, Hajong had been in Shillong for the past three days, attending meetings in the state party office during a period of “suspense” about his candidature in the poll. But in a way, it was time for BJP to return the “favour” as NPP did not field any candidate from the party for Ampati in the February 27 election. BJP had then fielded Hajong who eventually lost to Mukul Sangma. The former chief minister, who had also won from Songsak, had vacated Ampati a few days after the poll results were announced, making way for his 27-year-old daughter to contest the by-election on a Congress ticket. Asked about the mood among his supporters back home, Hajong, who was on his way back to Tura from the state capital on Thursday morning, said they would have mixed feelings now. “They wanted me to contest again. I also did not want to disappoint them and so was anxiously waiting for a final decision,” he said. Now that a straight fight between NPP and Congress looms in Ampati, the former bureaucrat however said his supporters would vote for the consensus candidate. “NPP will win for sure as my supporters will also vote for the candidate. In the February election, I bagged about 5500 votes from Hajong and Koch communities, 3500 from Garo community and the rest from others, including voters from the Muslim community. All these voters will now vote for NPP,” Hajong said. He further predicted that Ampati would see a rerun of Williamnagar, where NPP’s Marcuise Marak scored an emphatic victory in the April 27 by-election, pushing former MLA, Deborah C. Marak of Congress to third position. On Miani’s candidature, he said it was unfortunate that the former chief minister had engaged in dynastic politics yet again. “She is of my daughter’s age and that it was not the right time for her to be in politics. More so, because there is a lot of work to be done in Ampati, for which an experienced MLA is needed,” Hajong said.
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