Humiliated, made to feel persona non grata within Congress: Pradyut Bordoloi on why he joined BJP

Guwahati: Pradyut Bordoloi, a two-term MP from Assam who recently crossed over to the BJP, has claimed that he felt neglected, isolated and a "persona non grata" in the Congress.

A Congress member for more than five decades and the chairman of the manifesto committee for the Assam Assembly polls, Bordoloi is contesting the state election on a BJP ticket from Dispur.

In an interview with PTI, Bordoloi claimed that a succession of wounds had built up, and it perhaps started during the Congress organisational election in 2022.

He alleged that he was facing humiliation in the Congress, was made to feel "persona non grata", and was sidelined after he supported Shashi Tharoor's candidature for the party president's post.

"A few MPs, such as Shashi Tharoor, demanded organisational elections to strengthen democracy within the Congress. Initially, there was a move for a consensus candidate. When elections were finally held, Shashi Tharoor wanted to contest. I was the proposer for his candidature and campaigned extensively," he said.

Mallikarjun Kharge won the elections and became the Congress president.

"After that, I felt there was a systematic action against me, though Kharge was always magnanimous and accepted me... Sonia Gandhi, who has been a mother figure to me, also never discriminated against me," Bordoloi said.

He alleged that it was the second-rung leadership in the Congress who "systematically kept him aside, and it was very palpable".

"When I wanted to participate in Lok Sabha debates, which are decided within the party, I never got a chance. If they gave me a chance at all, my name would be at the bottom of the list, and as such, there was no time for me to speak or just two minutes." He claimed these were not isolated cases but systematic.

"I was feeling useless. What is the use of being an MP if I could not participate (in Parliament debates) meaningfully, especially in taking up the cudgel on behalf of my constituency in Assam or the northeast region?" Bordoloi asserted there were many such instances, but the final straw was when he was attacked during the Panchayat elections in the state in 2025.

"Hooded miscreants smashed my car and tried to kill me with iron rods and other weapons. I escaped with minor bruises and brushed it aside, thinking it to be the BJP's handiwork, but the police took up the case suo motu.

"Later, to my horror, I came to know that the whole attack was engineered by a sitting Congress MLA under my Parliamentary constituency as his closest confidante, a history-sheeter, was arrested," he said.

Bordoloi claimed that he had drawn the attention of the state Congress president and senior party leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, to the matter and even opposed the candidature of the Congress MLA for the forthcoming polls.

"To my dismay, Imran Masood, a member of the screening committee who was assigned by the Congress to travel across Assam, was accompanied by this MLA," he said.

When the Central Election Committee of the Congress met under the leadership of Kharge, and this MLA's case was being examined, Masood stood up and said the allegations were "false and fabricated", the BJP candidate from Dispur alleged.

"I was not a member of this committee, but state president Gaurav Gogoi was present there. When I came to know of this, I felt extremely humiliated and disappointed that the state unit chief failed to defend me... making me feel that I levelled false allegations to settle a score with this MLA," the former MP said.

Asked about his equation with Gogoi, Bordoloi said he had nothing personal against him. "I don't want to sound like a crybaby... but there was a trust deficit." "If I raise any matter about my constituency and it is not given importance, while I am made to feel before the Congress leadership that I am making irresponsible and fabricated charges," he said. "I realised enough is enough, and I cannot co-exist in such a situation." About his joining the BJP, Bordoloi said that when he resigned from Congress and the Lok Sabha, the saffron party's top leadership got in touch with him.

He said that when his former Congress colleague and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma "approached me, my only point was that I should be accorded dignity and self-respect. I cannot compromise on that." "When I resigned, I did not think of coming back to Assam. But a proposal came from the BJP leadership on contesting the Dispur seat....it all happened too fast, and I thought why not?" He, however, asserted that he returned to the state "unconditionally, with no strings attached".

Asked about reports that there was opposition from a section of the BJP over his being nominated to contest from Dispur, Bordoloi said, "When the party leadership announced my candidature, there was bound to be some heartburn and grievances. I am sympathetic to that." Bordoloi asserted the BJP has accepted him and "is guiding and helping me. I got only a few days to jump into the fray, and all the lacunae have been filled up with the party's strong organisation network." After Pradyut Bordoloi quit the Congress, his son, Prateek Bordoloi, decided not to contest the Assembly polls as a party nominee from the Margherita seat.

In this context, Pradyut Bordoloi was asked if he had nipped the political career of his son in the bud. To this, he replied, "The day I joined the BJP, he was in Delhi. Obviously, he was very disheartened. I told him that this decision of mine should not influence his, and he decided to remain in the Congress." Pradyut Bordoloi was inducted into the BJP in the presence of Sarma and other party leaders in New Delhi on March 18.