GUWAHATI, March 30: Ahead of the second phase of Assembly elections in Assam, a former MLA of Raha Assembly constituency, who was denied a ticket by Congress to contest from the seat, joined BJP at a function here on Tuesday, official sources confirmed.
Guneswar Das, a former legislator, along with other members such as Manoj Kumar Baruah, Ganesh Borkakoti, Prasanta Saikia , Suhan Singh , Tarun Nath and Indra Prashad Baruah, formally joined the saffron party.
They were welcomed to the party by state minister and BJP leader, Pijush Hazarika in the presence of other party leaders.
Raha, where the BJP alliance has fielded AGP candidate Bishnu Das, is among the 39 Assembly seats going to the second phase poll in the state on April 1.
Welcoming the new members to BJP’s wing, Hazarika said although it was certain that the BJP-led alliance would triumph in Raha, the joining of the former MLA has set a benchmark in the whole process.
In his speech, Das, a veteran politician, said he was earlier promised a party ticket to contest the poll from the Congress, but was denied a ticket later by the party leadership.
Miffed at the “snub”, he subsequently decided to contest the election as an Independent but, “after being motivated by the saffron party’s ideology and leaders’ poll pitch”, joined BJP two days ahead of the second phase election.
BJP sources here informed that several members of other political parties continued to join the BJP ahead of and during the three phases of the Assam Assembly elections.