Kanad Purkayastha denied ticket, Kabindra Purkayastha feels neglected by BJP

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: The patriarch and founding father of BJP in the northeast, Kabindra Purkayastha, two-time MP and former Union Minister, feels undermined and neglected in the party. Reason is attributed by him to denial of ticket to his son Kanad Purkayastha, a frontline young warrior of the saffron party despite assurances from the State leadership. Kanad was expected to get nomination to contest from Silchar seat in the ensuing polls. Local media has reported about him as a probable candidate on the panel of 3 including sitting MLA Dilip Kumar Paul and Deepayan Chakraborty quoting sources in the BJP headquarters here.

But, when the list of candidates approved by the State and Central committee came out, the ageing Pukayastha now close to 90 was deeply shocked to find the name of his son, missing. In order to share his anguish and shock, he called a press meet here on Sunday at his residence and narrated the sequences of events resulting in the anti-climax as if his contributions to the party 'are of no worth.' He recalled to say he quit the job of principal of Ramkrishna Nagar Higher Secondary School in the mid 80's to serve the party as a whole time worker and was instrumental to create saffron surge when 2 MP and 9 MLA seats of the valley went to the kitty of BJP in 1991 general elections, a record of sort in the political history of northeast.

Kabindra Purkayastha added to say, "I was behind the formation of district and State committees of the party and attended workers' meets at different places to give a new dimension and direction to BJP and take it to the height to become the main political body of northeast."

What pained him most was the assurance for his son's nomination in 2021 given by Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, State organising secretary Phani Bhushan Sarma, and Cachar district president Kaushik Rai on the eve of 2019 Parliamentary elections when they came to his Nutanpatty residence to request him to campaign for Dr Rajdeep Roy contesting from Silchar.

Despite his ailment, Kabindra Purkayastha campaigned for Dr Rajdeep Roy who won by record vote of more than 80,000 votes. He continued to make his presence felt at the party meetings with the hope of getting favour for his son in 2021. Purkayastha had definite information that the name of his son was discussed at the Central Selection Committee in New Delhi. Phani Bhushan Sarma rang him from Delhi to say, "If Kanad Purkayastha can't be considered for Silchar, he will get nomination from Borkhola." He was hoping against hope but all melted into thin air, pointed out Kabindra Purkayastha, his voice choked in emotion. Who was to blame? All those who kept him on tenterhooks just to betray him, he quipped with sighs of agony and shock.

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