Sarbananda Sonowal set to get elected to RS uncontested from Assam

GUWAHATI: Union minister and former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal is all set to get elected to the Rajya Sabha uncontested as the major Opposition party, the Congress, has decided not to field any candidate for the election to the upper house of Parliament from Assam on October 4.
BJP state president Bhabesh Kalita collected the nomination papers for Sonowal from the state assembly on Saturday.He was accompanied by Santanu Bharali, former legal adviser to the former CM, Sonowal, and MLA Binod Hazarika. An RS seat from Assam is lying vacant after incumbent Assam assembly speaker Biswajit Daimary resigned and contested in the last assembly polls from the Paneri assembly segment in the Bodoland Territorial Region. The process of filing nominations will come to an end on September 22.
"On behalf of Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal we collected the nomination papers today. On September 21, he will submit the nomination papers where chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and leaders of our alliance partners, especially the AGP and UPPL, will be present," said Kalita. He said there is no chance of any contest as only one nomination paper has been issued. Kalita took a jab at the Congress-led 'Mahajot' saying that the opposition is nowhere near winning the contest for the lone RS seat for which election is due.
Meanwhile, Congress will abstain from backing any candidate in this election, citing lack of numbers. Assam PCC working president Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha said, "In our recent Congress legislature party meeting, it has been decided to apprise the Assam PCC that we won't contest for the RS seat simply because we don't have numbers to ensure the victory of a candidate," said Purkayastha.
Sonowal, now the Union cabinet minister for shipping, ports, waterways and AYUSH, won the 2021 assembly election from the Majuli seat in Upper Assam. "After the BJP leadership made Himanta Biswa Sarma the chief minister, Sonowal was shifted to Delhi and made a Union minister. Sonowal's candidature in the RS election was imminent and shows BJP's commitment to prioritize indigenous community people in politics," said a BJP leader.
With the BJP’s victory certain in the coming RS election, state BJP president Kalita said opposition parties have become irrelevant in Assam politics. He was hopeful that in the ensuing byelection too, the BJP and its allies would register a thumping victory in all the six seats in Assam. "People renewed their faith in the BJP in the 2021 assembly polls. An atmosphere has been created where the seat-share of BJP may go up to 63 (in the 126 member assembly) after the byelection," he added.
As the BJP is going ahead in full steam, disunity among opposition parties is ruining the prospects of the Congress. A possible split in anti-BJP votes in the coming byelection has posed an even bigger challenge for the Congress. Assam PCC president Bhupen Borah is in no mood to continue with the Mahajot plan and as a result, the parties which contested the last assembly polls together are set to clash with one another. No alliance could be stitched with the Raijor Dal or the Assam Jatiya Parishad either, despite the two new regional parties having several rounds of talks with the Congress after the assembly polls.