Pradyut Bordoloi, the Lok Sabha MP of Congress, joined the BJP on Wednesday, breaking his longstanding association with the grand old party. BJP has fielded him from Dispur, dropping sitting MLA Atul Bora.
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Bora, one of the founding members of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), had wrested the Dispur seat in 1985. In 2013, Bora switched over to the BJP, wresting the seat for the party in two consecutive elections.
Pradyut Bordoloi had won the Margherita seat from 1998 till 2016. After his defeat in the last assembly polls, he shifted to Nagaon Lok Sabha seat which he won. In 2024, he again wrested the Nagaon seat. He was president of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, and was a powerful minister in the three-term rule of the Congress from 2001-2015.
Terming the move to the BJP as “emotionally difficult”, the two-time MP and former minister in the erstwhile Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government said he had felt “suffocated and sidelined” within the party and was seeking a platform where he could work with dignity.
“I have been representing Dispur since 1985 and have defeated three Chief Ministers during my political journey,” said Bora, who was replaced by Bordoloi for the Dispur constituency. “I expected the party to consider my track record.”Bora lamented that the current situation within the BJP has left him disillusioned. “Today, there is no environment to work in the BJP,” he said. “Workers are confused about where to go. The party claims to be the largest, yet it is now importing candidates and distributing tickets,” he alleged.
Attacking Bordoloi, Bora accused him of political opportunism. “Pradyut Bordoloi was once an MLA from Margherita, later moved to Nagaon and became an MP. Now he wants to contest from Dispur. This is a betrayal of the people of Margherita and Nagaon, and I fear the same could happen in Dispur,” he said.
In a letter to Congress president and chairman of the party’s Central Election Committee Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday, Prateek Bordoloi said he would continue to remain a party member.
Prateek was named by the Congress as its candidate for Margherita, a seat his father had represented in the assembly for four terms, in the first list released earlier this month.
Prateek said after his father’s decision to join another party it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to continue as a Congress candidate from Margherita.
“With utmost respect and a deep sense of responsibility towards the party, I wish to convey my decision to withdraw my candidacy from the Margherita assembly constituency,” he said. “I believe that the people of Margherita and the countless dedicated Congress workers deserve absolute clarity and confidence in the party’s candidate.”
Prateek asserted that he would continue to work for the Congress in whatever capacity the leadership deems appropriate, adding that his decision “is guided purely by my respect for the organisation and desire to uphold the values and discipline of the Congress party”.
Mentioning his association with the party from a very young age, he said its ideals have shaped his political thinking and expressed his gratitude to the leadership for the trust and encouragement extended to him over the years.
Elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held on April 9. In Dispur, Congress has nominated Mira Borthakur Goswami. She joined Congress in 2019 quitting BJP following the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Goswami had unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Guwahati on a Congress ticket.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Pradyut Bordoloi has not come to gain anything in BJP. He was a sitting MP and could have remained so. I am in touch with party workers and everyone will welcome him and ensure his victory from Dispur.”
