AGP and BJP to abstain from Assam RS polls

The opposition Asom Gana Parishad and BJP have decided to abstain from voting for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Assam, polling for which are scheduled on May 30.
The AGP, with nine MLAs in the state assembly, has decided to abstain from voting as it had failed to arrive at a consensus over the second candidate, party General Secretary Durgadas Boro said here today.
"We were interested in putting up a consensus candidate of all opposition parties for the second seat but as this did not happen we have decided not to vote," he said.
Earlier BJP, with five candidates in the assembly, had also decided to abstain from voting as the party did not support any of the contestants.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is contesting for the first seat and likely to be elected unopposed and for the second seat Congress nominated Santius Kujur while the opposition All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has fielded Aminul Islam.
The current Rajya Sabha term of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and AGP leader Kumar Deepak Das will end on June 14.

Assam has seven seats in the Rajya Sabha.
In the 126-member state legislative assembly, the ruling Congress has 79 MLAs and is supported by 12 MLAs of its ally Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) while AIUDF, the main opposition party has 18 MLAs and two members are Independents.

Kujur is an Adivasi leader from the Christian community who had contested the last assembly polls from Panery in Udalguri district, while Aminul Islam is AIUDF's general secretary and an advocate in Gauhati High Court.