Guwahati: Union Minister and former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal is likely to be announced as the BJP’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha through the recently announced polls.
Incumbent Majuli MLA Sonowal was inducted into the Modi cabinet after he was overlooked for the position of the Chief minister.
The by-polls have been announced for a Rajya Sabha seat from Assam that is lying vacant after the resignation of Biswajit Daimary.
Daimary is now a speaker in the Assam Assembly. He had shifted his allegiance from BPF to BJP before the Assam Assembly polls which necessitated his resignation from the Upper House.
In West Bengal, Manas Bhuya had resigned after he won recently concluded assembly elections in the state. He is presently a senior minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet. There is a high possibility that Sushmita Dev could be nominated to the Rajya Sabha through this vacant seat.
According to sources, Dev was offered the seat when she joined TMC after leaving Congress last month.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced Rajya Sabha polls for Assam, West Bengal, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra will be held on October 4.