In a development that has shaken the Congress party's electoral prospects in Assam, veteran politician and Nagaon Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday, a day after submitting his resignation from the grand old party.
“I have taken this decision with a heavy heart”, said Pradyut Bordoloi to reporters after joining BJP on Wednesday (18 March).
According to TV Channel, the switch was formalised in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP president Dilip Saikia, dealing a fresh and consequential blow to Congress at a particularly vulnerable moment, barely three weeks before the state goes to polls.
Party Weakened? Congress Loses One of 3 Assam MPs
The timing could hardly be worse. With Assam assembly elections scheduled for 9 April, Pradyut Bordoloi's exit strips Congress of one of its three sitting Members of Parliament from the state.
The other two, state president Gaurav Gogoi, who represents Jorhat, and Rakibul Hussain of Dhubri , now carry the weight of an opposition whose parliamentary representation in Assam has been visibly eroded.
Pradyut Bordoloi, a former state cabinet minister and two-time MP from Nagaon constituency, carries significant political capital. A Cotton College and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus, he served as a four-time MLA from Margherita and had long-standing ties to the state NSUI dating back to his student years.
Pradyut Bordoloi had also been serving as chairman of Congress's manifesto committee for these very assembly polls- a role that makes his departure all the more symbolically damaging.
The Resignation Letter That Signalled the Split
The break became public on Tuesday (17 March), when Pradyut Bordoloi sent a one-line resignation to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. The letter's brevity carried the weight of finality, "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."
State media department chairman Bedabrata Bora confirmed the letter to news agency from Guwahati. Senior Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam, and state party chief Gaurav Gogoi flew to meet Bordoloi in Delhi in an effort to contain the fallout, but to no avail.
