Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi may be BJP’s Assam CM candidate for 2021 polls: Tarun Gogoi

Former Assam chief minister and vetran Congress leader Tarun Gogoi

Former Assam chief minister and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi on August 22 claimed that former chief justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi could be the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s chief ministerial candidate for the assembly polls in 2021.

Tarun Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati, “I have heard from my sources that Ranjan Gogoi’s name is there in the list of the BJP’s candidates for the chief minister’s post. I suspect he might be projected for the next possible chief ministerial candidate for Assam.”

“It is all about politics. BJP was happy with Ranjan Gogoi over Ayodhya Ram Mandir case judgment. Then he gradually entered politics, step by step, by accepting the Rajya Sabha nomination. Why did he not refuse the Rajya Sabha membership? He could have easily been chairman of the human rights commission or other rights organisations. He has political ambition and that’s why he accepted the nomination,” The Times of India quoted Tarun Gogoi as saying.

Ranjan Gogoi, who served as CJI between October 2018 and November 2019, is the son of Keshab Chandra Gogoi who was the ninth chief minister of Assam and was a Congress politician.

Not in the fray

Tarun Gogoi, who served as the chief minister of Assam between 2001 and 2016, also asserted that he is himself not in fray to be the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate in next year’s assembly elections. He said that the party had many other capable leaders who could be the chief ministerial candidates and that he would rather play an advisory role.

The 85-year-old also hinted that Congress could for a ‘grand alliance’ with Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), other regional parties and the Left.