New Delhi/Guwahati: In yet another jolt to the Congress ahead of the April 9 Assam Assembly polls, its senior leader and Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi joined the BJP on Wednesday.
A Congress member for more than five decades and the chairman of the manifesto committee for the Assembly polls, Bordoloi claimed that he resigned on Tuesday as he was facing humiliation in the party and was sidelined after he supported Shashi Tharoor’s candidature for the party president’s post.
A two-term MP from Nagaon and a former four-time MLA, Bordoloi was inducted into the BJP in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other party leaders in the national capital, weeks after former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah switched to the ruling party.
The Congress termed his decision as “unfortunate”, while the BJP claimed it reflected the Opposition party’s weakening base, with Sarma saying that “no self-respecting individual” can remain in the Congress.
“BJP national president Nitin Nabin approved sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi’s joining on Tuesday. Our state president Dilip Saikia has welcomed him to the party,” Sarma told reporters in Delhi after a brief ceremony where Saikia presented Bordoloi with a stole and party cap.
“Our goal is to bring all good leaders of Congress to the BJP fold. We have to brighten the future of the BJP and Assam both,” he said.
Sarma said that the state party leadership will recommend a ticket for Bordoloi for the April 9 assembly polls.
A Congressman since 1975, Bordoloi’s joining will strengthen the BJP and help translate into reality Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat, Viksit Assam’, he said.
Bordoloi, who is also a former Assam cabinet minister, had sent his resignation letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday evening.
State Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi and AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh had rushed to meet Bordoloi the same evening, but apparently could not convince him to reverse his decision.
Bordoloi’s son Prateek is a Congress nominee from Margherita constituency for the state polls.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is the chairperson of the Screening Committee for candidates for Assam polls, said that Bordoloi’s resignation was unfortunate and added that differences over ticket allocation may have led to the decision.
“I think he was upset over ticket allocation, and I wish we had a chance to have a conversation; it is unfortunate,” Vadra told reporters inside the Parliament House complex.
