Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam will continue its alliance with coalition partners the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) for the upcoming Lok Sabha seats, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced in Guwahati on Thursday.
“Our parties have decided to continue with the present alliance and contest the Lok Sabha elections together,” Sarma said.
He said that while the BJP will contest 11 of the total 14 seats, AGP will contest on two and the UPPL in one seat.
The CM said that the AGP had asked for three seats– Kaziranga, Barpeta and either Dhubri or Karimganj and after a series of discussions, it was agreed that the AGP would contest in two seats – Barpeta and Dhubri.
“UPPL had requested for the Kokrajhar seat, and it was agreed in a meeting of senior BJP leaders in Delhi on Wednesday that we will give them that seat,” Sarma said.
Kokrajhar seat is currently held by independent Naba Kumar Sarania. The Barpeta seat is represented by Abdul Khaleque from Congress, and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal is the sitting MP from Dhubri.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won nine seats, the Congress bagged three, and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and an independent candidate won one seat each.
{{/usCountry}}In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won nine seats, the Congress bagged three, and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and an independent candidate won one seat each.
{{/usCountry}}“We will continue our friendship. BJP workers will work to ensure victories for AGP and UPPL candidates and their workers will help our candidates,” said Sarma, adding that the BJP was confident of winning 11 seats in the coming polls.
He indicated that the list of 11 BJP candidates is expected to be released soon and it is likely to contain few new faces. Some sitting MPs have expressed their desire not to contest this time and instead focus on party work, Sarm said.