Itanagar, September 23: The Opposition BJP, which has no representative in the 60-member outgoing Arunachal Pradesh assembly, had decided to contest only 30 seats in the October 13 assembly elections. Though the party had earlier announced it would contest 50 seats, BJP state General Secretary Tai Tagak today said it would contest only 30.
The party had won nine seats in the 2004 assembly polls, but all legislators including Leader of the Opposition Kameng Dolo defected to ruling Congress in 2007. In another setback, former Lok Sabha member Kiren Rijiju, a popular leader projected by BJP as its chief ministerial candidate also crossed over to Congress in August, leaving the party in the lurch.
The BJP was expecting large scale desertion of Congress legislators denied ticket, but seven of them preferred to contest on Trinamool Congress ticket and one on NCP ticket. The BJP, which is yet to release the final list though only two days are left for filing nomination, said 15 names have been released and another list will be released tomorrow.
—PTI–