Seat-sharing equation: Resentment brews among workers of UPPL in Udalguri district

A CORRESPONDENT

TANGLA: The pre-poll dynamics of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) with regard to seat sharing in the 12 Assembly seats of the four districts of the Bodo belt have not gone down well with the ticket aspirants and a section of party workers of UPPL in Udalguri district, who expressed resentment and staged protest against the BJP and burnt effigies of North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convener Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma; BJP national general secretary and Mangaldoi Lok Sabha MP, Dilip Saikia and Rajya Sabha MP-cum-BJP candidate of Paneri LAC, Biswajit Daimari at Bhergaon in Udalguri district on Saturday.

The party workers shouted slogans against the BJP, accusing them of playing 'power-centric politics'. They demanded that UPPL must project candidates in Paneri and Kalaigaon LACs in a friendly contest with the BJP taking into consideration the grassroots support of UPPL in the constituencies.

"I being an ticket aspirant of the UPPL for Paneri LAC, have observed that the BJP candidates of Paneri and Kalaigaon are non-local candidates and people of the region are not going to vote for them in the forthcoming Assembly polls,"said UPPL leader Manmohan Boro. He further asserted that if the UPPL did not project him as a candidate, he was ready to contest as an independent candidate with his supporters.

Reacting to the protests and resentment among UPPL workers, Rajya Sabha MP-cum-BJP candidate of Paneri LAC, Biswajit Daimari said, "Difference of opinion is inevitable in politics and democracy and the party decisions are binding on the workers." He further asserted that the BJP had projected him as a candidate of Paneri LAC and a party takes decisions for the welfare of common good and not for personal interests. The BJP will project candidates in four LACs out of 12, including three in Udalguri and one in Baksa.

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