Lok Sabha MP from Assam’s Nagaon, Pradyut Bordoloi, a day after suddenly resigning from Congress on Tuesday ahead of the Assembly polls in Assam next month, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday. Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi joins BJP before Assam Assembly polls (PTI)

Bordoloi joined the saffron party at a simple ceremony in New Delhi at the residence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. BJP state president Dilip Saikia, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita, and several BJP MPs from Assam were present.

“No self-respecting individual can stay in Congress today, particularly in the case of Assam. Bordoloi is a very senior Congress leader who joined the party in 1975. We welcome him to the BJP,” said CM Sarma.

“Our candidates list for the coming Assembly polls will be finalised today. We will try to accommodate him in a seat and ensure his win,” he added.

Bordoloi said that the decision to quit Congress and join the BJP was not an easy one and was taken with a lot of difficulty.

“I had joined Congress when I was 16 years old, and the party has played a significant role in shaping my life and has given me a lot. But in recent years, I was feeling insulted, sidelined and suffocated in the party,” he said.

“I have joined the BJP to do something better for the people of Assam. I feel I will be able to offer my services to the party and help make Assam one of the best states in the country. I look forward to working for the welfare of all communities in Assam together with my new colleagues,” Bordoloi added.

On Tuesday, in a letter sent to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Bordoloi stated that he was quitting all posts and primary membership of the party. He was the chairman of the party’s manifesto committee for the coming election.

“With an overwhelming sense of sadness today, I hereby tender my resignation from all posts, privileges and primary membership of the Indian National Congress,” Bordoloi wrote in his letter, which HT has seen.

Last month, former Congress state president Bhupen Kumar Borah had quit the party and joined the ruling BJP. Like Borah, Bordoloi joined the saffron party on Wednesday.

A seasoned Congressman who served as minister for several important portfolios in the Tarun Gogoi governments from 2001 to 2016, he is a two-time MP from the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat.

Bordoloi’s son, Prateek, has been nominated as the Congress candidate from the Margherita seat in the coming Assembly election. “We have not discussed Bordoloi’s joining. His son has an individual opinion, and it is not necessary that a father’s views will be the same as his son’s,” said Sarma.

Bordoloi said that he has asked his son to take his own decision about what to do without being influenced by his (Bordoloi’s) move.