Himanta Makes Surprise Silchar Visit to Defuse BJP Ticket Row in Cachar

Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma made an unannounced visit to Silchar on Sunday afternoon to personally handle growing discontent within the Cachar BJP over candidate selection — a sign of how seriously the party is taking internal tensions in the Barak Valley ahead of April 9.

The closed-door meeting was held at the Silchar residence of Minister Kaushik Rai, where Sarma met both the party's selected candidates and the sitting MLAs who had been denied tickets.

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The trigger for the unrest is the BJP's decision to deny renomination to three sitting MLAs from Cachar district — Dipayan Chakrabarty of Silchar, Mihir Kanti Shome of Udharbond, and Nihar Ranjan Das of Dholai.

The reactions from each have been markedly different.

Two-time MLA Mihir Kanti Shome took to social media to say he would continue to serve the party, signalling acceptance of the decision. Dipayan Chakrabarty also distanced himself from any talk of rebellion.

Nihar Ranjan Das, however, went further — resigning from the BJP and declaring he would contest as an independent candidate. But in a significant development on Sunday, Das reversed course and announced he would not contest the election at all.

The groundwork for Sunday's resolution had begun a day earlier. On Saturday, Cachar's guardian minister Jayantamalla Baruah and cabinet colleague Kaushik Rai personally visited all three denied MLAs at their residences in an attempt to manage the fallout.

Sarma's visit on Sunday appears to have completed that effort.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Sarma dismissed reports of serious discontent within the party.

"Since I will be in Golaghat tomorrow and will not be able to accompany them during their nominations, I have come today to convey my best wishes," he said, framing the visit as a goodwill gesture rather than crisis management.

He described the exclusion of the three MLAs as an internal party matter and said he had spoken to them personally.

Sarma expressed confidence that the BJP would win all ten constituencies in the Barak Valley where it has fielded candidates. He added that in the Sonai LAC, alliance partner AGP has a strong chance of winning.

All BJP candidates from the region are expected to file their nomination papers on Monday.