Guwahati, Jan 17 (PTI) Lok Sabha MP Dilip Saikia was elected unopposed as the new Assam BJP president on Friday.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the returning officer for the election, handed over the official appointment letter to Saikia, who took over the reins from outgoing president Bhabesh Kalita at the same programme.
The names of 23 national council members from the state were also announced on the occasion.
Top party leaders, including Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, were present at the programme.
Saikia sought the support of party workers and leaders for the state’s development.
“We’ve to work together to make Assam among the top five states. I believe that our work should do the talking rather than our words,” he said.
Recalling how former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee had envisioned that ‘lotus’ (BJP’s election symbol) will bloom after all darkness has dispelled, Saikia said, “That dream has become a reality now and lotus is blooming across the country.” He said though electoral success is a yardstick for measuring the success of a political party, it cannot be the sole criteria and asserted that the BJP has remained firm on its ideology.
He maintained that the party rewards members who do not seek any position but work with dedication.
Saikia, a BJP national general secretary and a second-term MP from Darrang-Udalguri constituency (formerly Mangaldai), was the sole nominee for the position.
He filed his nomination papers on Thursday evening, backed by a list of 20 proposers and supporters.
Among the signatories were outgoing state president Kalita, CM Sarma, and deputy speaker of Assam Assembly Numol Momin.
Saikia, 51, has held various positions in the BJP and its youth wing and was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019.
Top central leaders such as Harish Dwivedi, Sambit Patra and Sunil Bansal oversaw the election process and held consultations with the state leadership to finalise a consensus candidate for the top post.
Meanwhile, 23 members of the national council from the state were also named.
Among the nominees from the state are Union minister Sonowal, CM Sarma and former state president Kalita, besides other state ministers, MPs and MLAs. PTI SSG SSG MNB
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