Anant Maharaj is BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate from Bengal. Who is he? All you need to know about him
Anant Rai 'Maharaj', has been demanding that a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' be carved out of West Bengal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday announced the candidatures of Babubhai Jesangbhai Desai (from Gujarat), Kesrivevsinh Zala (from Gujarat) and Anant Maharaj (from West Bengal) for the forthcoming election to the Rajya Sabha.
Anant Rai 'Maharaj', has been demanding that a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' be carved out of West Bengal. A few days back Home Minister Amit Shah went to meet Greater Coochbehar People's Association leader Anant Maharaj in Assam. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a public meeting at Ras Mela Ground in Cooch Behar Anant Maharaj had also reached there.
The Election Commission (ECI) had said on June 27 that elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats would be held on July 24. The TMC has 216 MLAs in the 294-member assembly and enjoys the support of five BJP MLAs, who switched over to the ruling party but are yet to resign from the House. The BJP has a strength of 70 in the assembly. As per the numbers in the assembly, TMC will get six of these seven Rajya Sabha seats and the BJP one.
Anant Rai 'Maharaj' heads one of the factions of GCPA, which has been demanding that a separate state be carved out of northern West Bengal. With its eight districts, including picturesque Darjeeling, north Bengal is economically important for the state for its tea, timber and tourism industries. The region, which shares a border with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, has witnessed several violent statehood movements since the early eighties by various ethnic groups such as Gorkhas, Rajbanshis, Kochs and Kamatapuris.