Sankar Prasad Ray admits dissidence in Bongaigaon BJP

 From our Correspondent

 Bongaigaon, Oct 3: “I admit that we have dissidence within the Bongaigaon BJP,” said Sankar Prasad Ray, former president of AASU and present BJP leader. He was addressing a mass meeting held at Bongaigaon on Saturday which was organized by Bongaigaon district BJP to welcome Ray. “Phani Bhusan Choudhury, the present MLA of AGP is taking advantage of this. But I will try to diffuse the misunderstanding among all workers,” he added.

After Sankar Prasad Ray joined the BJP, a large number of BJP workers of Bongaigaon are unhappy.  “We have come to know that Sankar Prasad Ray will be the next BJP candidate from Bongaigaon constituency in the 2016 assembly election. But he has no base in Bongaigaon. People of Bongaigaon are already dissatisfied with his performance as AASU president. So, we think that this will be a loss to Bongaigaon BJP. Moreover, there are many able and efficient leaders in Bongaigaon BJP who have good reputation among people. But imposing a parachute candidate like Ray is not justified. This will harm the BJP in Bongaigaon and help Phani Bhusan Choudhury to win again,” said a BJP worker of Bongaigaon.

Sankar Prasad Ray was welcomed with a bike rally from North Salmara which moved through Bongaigaon and culmited at Bongaigaon District Library. More than 1,500 bikes were there in this bike rally.

Meanwhile, an organization med Sachetan Manch had circulated posters on Friday night in several places of Bongaigaon. In these posters the organization asked questions like, ‘How will Sankar Prasad Ray face the Hindu Bengalis whom he used to yell at when he was an AASU leader?’ But BJP activists tore down most of these posters in the morning.

People also alleged that in today’s rally each biker was paid Rs 200 as petrol expense. “Where did the BJP district committee get so much of money,” questioned Niren Sarkar, a resident of Bongaigaon town.