BJP names Kamakhya Prasad Tasa as Rajya Sabha candidate from Assam

The BJP Monday named Kamakhya Prasad Tasa as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections in Assam.

Tasa, who has long been associated with the BJP and working for tea garden workers, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from the Jorhat seat, but the party did not field him in this general election.

The party has not named the candidate for the second seat from the state, but it may support its Assam ally AGP for this.

There has been speculation that the saffron party may back Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, its ally in Bihar, for one of the seats in Assam after it promised to send him to the Rajya Sabha at the earliest opportunity during seat sharing talks for the Lok Sabha polls.

Paswan did not contest the general elections this time.

The Congress held the seats, including one by former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

With a BJP government now at the helm and the party enjoying a strong majority in the state assembly, its candidates are likely to win the two seats.

The BJP also named its candidates for the MLC election for one seat each in Bihar and Maharashtra.

It has fielded Radha Mohan Sharma from Bihar and Pruthvi Raj Deshmukh from Maharashtra.