Summary:
Gohain had left the race owing to the rape charges. Gohain had groomed Sarmah, an entrepreneur, as a political leader. Gohain’s supporters are now banking on the hope that the party will accommodate him in the Assam assembly, giving him a chance to contest the Nagaon assembly bypoll in case Sarmah makes it to the Lok Sabha. Guwahati: Union minister Rajen Gohain’s acquittal in a rape and sexual assault case on Monday did not help his chances of getting back in the race for the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate.Gohain, who has been winning the Nagaon seat since 1999, has been replaced by his protégé Rupak Sarmah as the saffron party candidate for the constituency. A press release by the panel’s secretary JP Nadda said his name was finalized at a meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and road transport minister Nitin Gadkari.To say Gohain’s supporters were disappointed would be an understatement..