Assam legislator Bharat Chandra Narah resigned from Congress on March 25 after his wife, a former MP, was denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha election on April 19.
His one-line resignation letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge read: “I do hereby resign from the Indian National Congress with immediate effect.”
Mr. Narah quit as the chairman of the party’s State media cell on Sunday, 24 hours after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) nominated Uday Shankar Hazarika as the party’s candidate for the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat.
Ranee Narah, the MLA’s wife, represented the Lakhimpur constituency thrice before she lost to Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of the BJP in 2014.
Congress insiders said Mr. Narah was upset when the party high command snubbed his wife and fielded Mr. Hazarika, who switched over from the BJP a few months ago.
The Congress candidate will face the BJP’s Pradan Baruah, also an import from Congress seeking a third straight term.
The AICC announced its first list of 12 candidates on March 13, leaving the Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies out. The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) was allowed to contest the Dibrugarh seat while it was presumed that the Lakhimpur seat would be allotted to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had earlier “sacrificed” the Guwahati seat in favour of the Congress.
The AJP and AAP are members of the Congress-helmed Opposition alliance of 16 parties.
It turned out that the Congress was caught between Ms. Narah and Mr. Hazarika before settling for the latter. The party announced the name of the Lakhimpur candidate on March 23.
Mr. Narah, one of the spearheads of the Assam Agitation of 1979-1985, began his political career in the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), now an ally of the BJP. He served as a Minister during the AGP and Congress governments.
Apart from representing Lakhimpur in Parliament thrice, Ms. Narah was a Rajya Sabha member for a term, and was the Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs between 2012 and 2014.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma described Mr. Narah’s resignation as an “internal matter”. “He did not contact us before resigning. So, I think it is an internal matter of Congress. But all Congress leaders will come to us, today or tomorrow. Our door is open for all of them, including [State president] Bhupen Kumar Borah,” Dr. Sarma said.
On March 15, Barpeta MP Abdul Khaleque resigned from Congress after he was denied a ticket. He withdrew his resignation later.
