Nine sitting Congress MLAs in Assam on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Guwahati giving the saffron party a morale booster ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls in the state.
The MLAs are known to be close aide of former Assam minister and Congress rebel Himanta Biswa Sarma, who joined the BJP few months back.
They are Bolin Chetia, Pradan Barua, Pallab Lochan Das, Rajen Borthakur, Pijush Hazarika, Kripanath Mallah, Abu Taher Bepari, Binanda Saikia and Jayanta Mallah Barua.
The Congress which has been ruling Assam since 2001 is expected to face tough battle from the BJP which won seven out of the 14 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Tarun Gogoi’s government is facing strong anti-incumbency and the latest development is likely to have an impact on the Congress vote bank.
However, the rebels’ move will not affect the Congress in the Assembly. It is now down to 69 MLAs in the 126-member Assembly but way ahead of majority mark.
Suspended
In fact, four of these nine MLAs have already been suspended from the Congress party and the rest five were issued showcause noticed after they approached the BJP under the leadership of Sarma.
On Friday, in a crowded event in the Assam BJP unit’s head office in Guwahati, BJP national secretary Ram Madhav welcomed the nine Congressmen into the party.
“Assam’s political situation is changing very fast. The BJP is attracting people’s attention very fast and people are dissatisfied with the Congress,” Madhav said.
The BJP state leadership claims that more Congress MLAs and leaders as well as workers would join them by January 2016.
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