Former Assam MLA quits BJP citing ‘disrespect’, likely to join Congress
Ashok Sarma, a former MLA from the Nalbari assembly seat, had been upset with the party leadership after being denied a ticket in the 2021 polls. He is expected to join the opposition Congress next week
Guwahati: Ashok Sarma, a former legislator of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, quit the party on Friday, citing disrespect to old and senior party workers.
Sarma, a former MLA from the Nalbari assembly seat, had been upset with the party leadership after being denied a ticket in the 2021 polls. He is expected to join the opposition Congress next week.
“I had been raising grievances faced by some party workers for a long time. But no action was taken on that. Therefore, I was left with no option but to quit the party to keep my honour intact,” Sarma told journalists after submitting his resignation letter in the state BJP head office here.
A senior leader of the BJP, Sarma had been associated with the party for close to three decades. He was elected from Nalbari in 2016, when the BJP first came to power in Assam. But in 2021, he was not given the ticket, and Jayanta Malla Baruah, who had joined the BJP from Congress in 2015, was chosen to represent the party.
Sarma’s resignation is the first such move by a senior BJP leader in Assam in recent years. There have been differences between old-timers in the party and those who have joined it in the past decade by leaving parties like Congress.
“I hope my resignation will lead to other senior leaders in the BJP, who have been sidelined, getting some respect. I will decide on my next political move soon, but there’s a likelihood of joining the Congress,” Sarma said.
Rajen Gohain, a former state president and Union minister, has also been complaining to the party leadership that senior leaders in the BJP are being sidelined by those who have joined from other parties in recent years.