Assam Assembly Elections 2026 | Big blow for Congress as Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi joins BJP

Guwahati: Opposition Congress in Assam received another major jolt ahead of Assembly elections with Lok Sabha member and one of its tallest leaders, Pradyut Bordoloi, joining BJP on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old was formally welcomed to BJP by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other leaders in New Delhi, a day after he resigned from Congress. 

Bordoloi,  who headed the manifesto committee of Congress for the Assembly elections, said he was feeling suffocated as he was kept out of major decisions of the party for a long time. 

Bordoloi, two-time MP from Nagaon Lok Sabha seat, who was once seen as successor of Tarun Gogoi as Chief Minister, quit the party after expressing dismay over the party's decision to field a candidate in Lahoreghat, an Assembly constituency under Nagaon. The candidate, Asif Nazar, an MLA at present, according to Bordoloi, is linked with a group, which had attacked him during Panchayat elections in Assam last year. 

Bordoloi on Tuesday evening submitted his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in which he did not cite any reason. But in a letter to Kharge earlier, he questioned Gaurav Gogoi's way of handling the party affairs including selection of candidates for the Assembly elections, scheduled on April 9. 

As the news spread, AICC in-charge for Assam, Jitendra Singh and Gaurav Gogoi met him in New Delhi and tried to convince him to withdraw his resignation. Bordoloi took the decision despite Congress naming his son, Prateek as a candidate in Margherita Assembly constituency, from where he got elected earlier before he became a Lok Sabha member from Nagaon in 2019.

Gaurav said it was Bordoloi's personal decision and termed it unfortunate. “The Congress party gave him a ticket in the last Lok Sabha election. In the current Assembly election, the party also gave a ticket to a member of his family. Yet he remains upset for personal reasons.”

Soon after his resignation, Home Minister Amit Shah called him and invited him to join BJP. The saffron party invited him to contest the Assembly elections from the prestigious Dispur Assembly seats.

"No sanatani Hindu leader can stay in Congress," Sarma said. 

This came days after Bhupen Kumar Borah, former president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee and a senior leader, quit and joined BJP. Borah is likely to contest the Assembly elections from Bihpuria seat in North Assam. A post-graduate from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Bordoloi had also served as power and industry minister in Tarun Gogoi cabinet.