Assam Congress appeals to disqualify two MLAs for supporting BJP govt

Congress MLAs Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Basanta Das had recently announced their support for state government without leaving the party.

Guwahati: Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia on Friday submitted two petitions to the Speaker requesting him to disqualify Congress MLAs Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Basanta Das, who recently announced their 'support the government' without leaving the party.

Leading a delegation of Congress, Saikia submitted the petitions to Speaker Biswajit Daimary and urged him to disqualify the two members immediately from membership of the Assam Assembly for voluntarily giving up the party's membership.

Saikia said both the MLAs were suspended after they did not respond to show cause notices following announcement of their allegiance to the BJP-led government.

On February 14, Purkayastha and Das had said that they decided to 'support the government' for its developmental works.

Purkayastha was the working president of the opposition party and Das was a minister in the Tarun Gogoi government.

Purkayastha, who has been in the Congress for several decades since his NSUI days, was elected from the Karimganj North constituency in Karimganj district in 2021. Das won the Assembly polls from Mangaldoi seat.

Officially, the BJP's strength in the 126-member Assam Assembly is 61, while its allies UPPL has seven MLAs and AGP has nine.

In the opposition camp, the Congress' strength is 27, AIUDF has 15 members, BPF has three and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is one Independent legislator also.