GUWAHATI: It left no one untouched when Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Phani Bhushan Choudhury sobbed inconsolably after resigning as an MLA on Friday.
His tears were not because he lost power but because his attachment to lower Assam’s Bongaigaon Assembly constituency as an MLA has finally come to an end after more than 38 years and five months.
The softspoken and down-to-earth Choudhury was elected to the Lok Sabha from Barpeta this election. So, he had to resign as an MLA.
AGP leaders and ministers Atul Bora and Keshab Mahanta accompanied Choudhury when he went to submit his resignation to Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary.
The MP-elect was pained by his separation from Bongaigaon as an MLA.
“Immediately after I resigned, it came to my mind if I did the right or wrong thing by contesting the parliamentary elections. I became an MLA in 1985 and today was the last day in that post. This day will remain etched in my memory forever,” Choudhury said bursting into tears.
He expressed gratitude to the people of Bongaigaon for reposing their faith and trust in him for such a long time.
“We nurture dreams. I also had a dream involving Bongaigaon. I don’t know how much of it has got fulfilled,” he said.
When allies AGP and BJP had more or less decided Choudhury will be the NDA’s consensus candidate in Barpeta, people in Bongaigaon staged a protest against it. They were in no mood to let him go to Delhi but he somehow managed to placate them.
The Barpeta Lok Sabha seat comprises ten Assembly segments, including Bongaigaon. Choudhury was sad that now as an MP, he will not be able to concentrate entirely on Bongaigaon.
The 72-year-old carries a clean image and has the distinct record of representing Bongaigaon for eight straight terms – the longest by any in the state. He served as a minister twice, first in Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s AGP government (1996-2001) and then, in Sarbananda Sonowal’s BJP-led government, albeit for three years from 2018 to 2021.