Meghalaya state BJP vice-president Bernard Marak walked out of Tura jail on Wednesday evening after 114 days and wasted no time in announcing his decision to contest against chief minister Conrad Sangma from the South Tura Assembly seat in next year’s polls “because the state needs a change”.

Marak, 52, was released after completing formalities in a Pocso case in which Meghalaya High Court had granted him bail on Monday, the last of the six cases slapped against him since his arrest on July 26 from Hapur on charges of running a brothel at his resort in West Garo Hills.

Marak was subsequently booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Explosive Substances Act, among others.

“He (Marak) was released on bail from jail this evening. He was slapped with six cases but got bail in all cases. Hearing on anticipatory bail in another case by the Tura court concluded today (Wednesday) but the order has been reserved,” Marak’s counsel, senior advocate Angshuman Bora, told The Telegraph.

Trouble for Marak, an elected Garo Hills Autonomous District Council member, began when West Garo Hills police raided his farmhouse — Rimpu Bagan — on July 22, and arrested 73 persons and seized 36 vehicles, 414 bottles of liquor, 49 mobile phones and Rs 30,000 in cash. Five minors were also “rescued” from the farmhouse.

A probe into a sexual assault case registered in February resulted in the police raid at Rimpu Bagan. Marak had, however, refuted the charges. Marak’s case assumes significance because the BJP is an ally of the National People’s Party (NPP) that heads the coalition government in Meghalaya.

The state BJP has stood by Marak since his arrest, asserting he was a “victim of a political vendetta against him”.

Soon after his release, Marak revealed his decision to contest against Sangma from the South Tura Assembly seat because the “state needs a change”. Sangma won the seat in 2018. He thanked the BJP leadership which decided that he would contest from South Tura.

Marak also said whatever happened to him should not have happened, but he believes in the judiciary.

The state BJP released a statement asserting Marak “secured bail against all odds and despite the best efforts of the NPP government to keep him under lockup”.

BJP state president Ernest Mawrie once again said the case against Marak has “no” basis or proof, and that it is a matter of “despicable political vendetta” while daring Sangma to fight from South Tura and “face the might of Marak in his own backyard”.

Mawrie said Sangma was aware of the “rising popularity” of Marak and “scared” of losing the people’s mandate in Tura.

“The people of Tura and the state have already made up their mind to oust the NPP government in the upcoming