India News | Himanta Not Interested in Contesting Assembly Polls

Guwahati, Aug 25 (PTI) Assam Minister and the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he was not interested in contesting the assembly elections scheduled next year.

Also Read | Rs 2,000 Currency Notes Were Not Printed in 2019-20: RBI Annual Report.

Sarma said that his role in the elections "will be limited to contribute whatever I can for my party and for my state".

Also Read | Pulwama Terror Attack: JeM’s Maulana Masood Azhar, Brothers Gave Directions to Terrorists, Says NIA.

He said that a few people feel that he was "after some post and position but my only ambition is to see a BJP government with 100+ seats".

"As I have already indicated on several public platforms that I am not interested in contesting next assembly election, my role will be limited to contribute whatever I can for my party and for my state", the minister said in a series of tweets.

Sarma is a four-time MLA since 2001 from Jalukbari assembly constituency in Guwahati. He represented the seat three times from Congress before switching over to BJP and winning from the same constituency on the saffron party ticket in 2016.

Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Assam in April 2021.

Sarma said that for Assam's future, "we need to have a strong nationalist government".

The minister also said that during the last few months in office as a minister, he would like to work whole- heartedly for his motherland.

"In my last few months (in office), I want to work for my state as much as possible to have eternal satisfaction", he said.

He had earlier in a press conference said that it was his party and family who will take a decision on his contesting the assembly elections.

It is widely believed that the minister had ambition to become the Chief Minister of Assam since 2011 when he was in the Congress, and had led a section of the party MLAs in dissident activities against the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Sarma along with his followers subsequently resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP and was instrumental in ensuring a decisive victory for the party and its allies in the 2016 assembly elections.

He is also credited for bringing in regional parties within the NDA and the subsequent formation of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

(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)