GUWAHATI: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Assam finance and health minister Himanata Biswa Sarma said that he does not wish to contest the 2021 assembly election.
However, if the party decides to field him to contest the poll which is likely to be held in March-April he will honour its decision.
Speaking to reporters, the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) said, "On my birthday on February 1, 2020, I gave a letter to Ranjeet Dass (Assam BJP state president) saying that I don't want to fight the 2021 assembly polls. This is not known to my wife or son or any family member till now. I am making it public for the first time."
"However, there was one line (in that letter) which stated that if the party decides to field me as a candidate, I will follow the party's instruction," added Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Meanwhile, The BJP leader did not disclose the reason for his unwillingness to fight the election.
Earlier on February 17, the minister opened up on the recommendations of the central panel on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and said that the inputs were "far from legal reality".
"The recommendations given by the committee are far from the legal reality of this land.... How can we implement them?" said Himanata Biswa.
The recommendations go against many Supreme Court judgements, the minister said at the launch of his book, "Eta Saponar Pom Khedi (Chasing a dream)", comprising 25 of his speeches.
Notably, the Apex court had ordered that reservations cannot exceed 50 per cent, but the panel's report suggested more than that, he added.
"Why did the committee not consider Supreme Court judgements? I think those were not recommendations, but their (panel's) expectations only," the BJP leader said.
In January 2021, the ABP-C Voter survey predicted that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA is likely to get 73-81 seats in the upcoming Assam Assembly polls.
As per the poll prediction, the BJP led-Assam government will comfortably cross the magic number of 63 while UPA is projected to win around 36-44 seats.
It is to be mentioned that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) along with its allied regional party- Asom Gana Parishad, United People's Party Liberal and Gana Suraksha Party is set to secure a strong foothold in the state of Assam.
Currently, the BJP stands with 60 MLAs, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and BPF have 14 and 12 lawmakers while the opposition Congress has 23 MLAs, while the AIUDF has 14 members in the House.
With the election around the corner and candidates from both the ruling party and the opposition are yet to be finalized, it will be interesting to see if the Assam BJP will project Himanta Biswa Sarma from his signature constituency or will the party will go with some new candidate.