India News | Denied LS Ticket, Congress Leader Joins BJP in Assam

Guwahati, Mar 13 (PTI) Assam Congress leader Suruj Dehingia on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after being denied ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Dehingia wanted to contest the polls from the Jorhat constituency, from where the Congress on Tuesday named its Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi.

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The Congress also expelled Dehingia, a state general secretary.

He defected to the saffron party at BJP's state headquarters here in presence of Rajya Sabha MP Pabitra Margherita, several local ministers and MLAs.

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Almost simultaneously, the Assam Congress issued an order expelling Dehingia with immediate effect, but did not cite any reason.

"Hon'ble President Assam PCC, Shri Bhupen Kumar Borah has expelled Shri Suruj Dehingia, General Secretary, APCC from Indian National Congress with immediate effect," the order signed by APCC General Secretary (Organisation) Bipul Gogoi said.

Gaurav Gogoi is a Lok Sabha MP from Kaliabor, which has been rechristened as Kaziranga after the delimitation exercise last year.

This time, he will contest against incumbent BJP MP Topon Kumar Gogoi in the neighbouring prestigious Jorhat seat.

Out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress announced candidates for 12 seats. It has offered Dibrugarh seat to alliance partner Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), while no decision has been taken yet on Lakhimpur constituency.

The BJP named 11 Lok Sabha candidates from Assam. The remaining three seats are left for allies -- two for AGP and one for United People's Party Liberal (UPPL).

The BJP has nine MPs in the current Lok Sabha from the state, while its allies AGP and UPPL have no representation. The Congress holds three seats and the AIUDF one, while another is an Independent candidate.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)