In a major setback for the Congress in Assam, sitting MP Pradyut Bordoloi, who resigned from the party on Tuesday, barely 20 days before the state Assembly elections, and formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the following day in the presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP president Dilip Saikia.
Bordoloi, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Nagaon and a former state cabinet minister, cited internal sidelining and repeated disrespect from party leaders as reasons for ending his decades-long association with the Congress. “Today, I have abandoned one of the most important principles of my life, and I am not happy with it… However, I made this decision because I was being insulted on many issues by anyone who approached me from within the Congress Party, especially in the Assam Congress,” he told reporters.
Bordoloi’s exit follows that of former Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah, who joined the BJP in February after serving the party for three decades. With Bordoloi’s resignation, Congress has lost one of its three Lok Sabha MPs from the state, intensifying concerns for the party as polls draw near.
The MP had tendered his resignation in a brief letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, stating: “With an overwhelming sense of sadness today, I hereby tender my resignation from all posts, privileges and the primary membership of the Indian National Congress.”
Congress leaders, including state chief Gaurav Gogoi and AICC general secretary in-charge Jitendra Singh, met Bordoloi in Delhi to persuade him to reconsider, calling his departure part of “differences within the family” and alleging that BJP-led media campaigns were attempting to malign him politically. Both Gogoi and Singh insisted that Bordoloi had no formal BJP offer at the time of the resignation.
Bordoloi, a Cotton College and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus, has been active in politics since his student days with the NSUI. He has served four terms as MLA from Margherita constituency until 2016. His son, Prateek Bordoloi, is a Congress candidate from Margherita in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Nabajyoti Talukdar, a senior APCC leader and close aide of Bordoloi, also quit Congress on Tuesday after being denied a ticket for Guwahati Central constituency.
The upcoming elections for all 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam will be held in a single phase on April 9, with vote counting scheduled for May 4. The BJP government, led by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, seeks a third consecutive term, while Congress aims to reclaim power.