GUWAHATI: The poster boys as also the think-tank of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi and Assam have already started campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but some senior leaders in Assam are distinctly unhappy with the central leadership to the extent that they are planning to go against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.
A highly placed source in the Sangh Parivar revealed that a few senior leaders are not happy with the leadership. The Sangh Parivar includes the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other affiliated organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and the BJP.
The source said, “One sitting member of the state legislative assembly (MLA) and a sitting Lok Sabha member of parliament (MP) will quit the BJP before 2019.”
The source claimed that both the leaders are not happy with the leadership as in spite of having served the party for a prolonged period, these two BJP leaders did not get the desired recognition. The source said that he will reveal the names to G Plus after a few days and accordingly G Plus will publish the names.
It needs to be mentioned that following the first expansion of the ministry in Assam in April, some of the party leaders expressed their disappointment at being ignored and not considered as ministerial material in the expansion.
BJP’s firebrand MLA from Dibrugarh Assembly Constituency, Prasanta Phukan, had resigned from the post of the chairman of the BJP’s steering committee for panchayat elections soon after the expansion. He also resigned from the position of the chairman of the Assam Medical College & Hospital (AMCH) management committee. The AMCH is located in Dibrugarh. He had also tendered resignations from five vital committees he was associated with.
Phukan had then said, “I resigned from these posts because I felt that if I am not eligible to be a minister then I am also not eligible to handle such huge responsibilities.”
Similarly, BJP MLAs from Dispur, Sonai and Morigaon were also disheartened by the cabinet expansion.
Leaders to join Togadia’s new political party
Former top leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Pravin Togadia, who had come to Guwahati in July last, is likely to launch a political party in October. The party will be launched in Ayodhya in front of a huge gathering, informed a source in the Sangh Parivar.
The source said, “Many BJP leaders from across India will join the party. From Assam, there will be two senior BJP leaders and many former Bajrang Dal and VHP leaders who will join the party.”
The source revealed that when Tagodia had visited Guwahati, he came in touch with these two BJP leaders and had joined hands with them with the intention of creating problems for the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls of 2019.
Tagodia, after quitting VHP over differences with the top leaders of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), VHP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had launched a new Hindu organisation called Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP), and many Bajrang Dal and VHP members from Assam had joined the same.
A prohibitory order, under Section 144 of the CrPC, was issued by Guwahati’s Commissioner of Police, Hiren Chandra Nath, ahead of Togadia’s scheduled visit to Guwahati from July 17 to 20. Tagodia, however, did visit Guwahati and met the members of AHP. Now he is gaining support from across the country and has decided to launch a political party, said the source.
It needs to be mentioned that around 90% of the trained Bajrang Dal cadres and active VHP members had resigned in Guwahati and Assam and had joined the AHP.
The source revealed that the two BJP leaders will join the new political party which will be launched in October and they are also trying to rope in some more BJP leaders from the state.
