Assam MLA Bharat Chandra Narah quits Congress after party refuses ticket to wife
Assam MLA Bharat Chandra Narah quit Congress after his wife didn't get a ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Bharat Chandra Narah, the MLA of Nowboicha in Assam's Lakhimpur district, resigned from the Congress on Monday.
The resignation comes two days after the Congress announced Uday Shankar Hazarika as its candidate for the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat. Narah was reportedly hopeful that his party would nominate his wife Ranee Narah, a former Union Minister, for the seat.
He sent a one-line resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. "I do hereby resign from the Indian National Congress with immediate effect," the MLA said in the letter.
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On Sunday, Narah resigned from the post of the chairman of Assam Congress' media cell. “I do hereby tender my resignation from my position as chairman of the Media Department, Assam PCC, effective immediately,” he wrote in his resignation letter to Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah.
Bharat Chandra Narah's wife Ranee Narah is a three-time MP from the Lakhimpur seat in Assam.
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Both Ranee Narah and Uday Shankar Hazarika had quit the ruling BJP to join Congress months ago. Since then, they were in close contention for the Lakhimpur constituency seat.
While Ranee Narah's name has been left out of Congress' list, Hazarika will be fighting against BJP candidate Pradan Baruah, who is seeking his third straight term on the seat.
The Congress party announced its final list of candidates for Assam on March 12. Out of the 14 total Lok Sabha seats in Assam, Congress has declared candidates for 13 seats, while its ally Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) will be contesting from one seat.