Assam Congress chief Gogoi calls Pradyut Bordoloi’s exit ‘unfortunate’

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Wednesday called the resignation of senior party leader and MP Pradyut Bordoloi unfortunate, but a personal decision. Gaurav Gogoi terms Bordoloi’s exit as unfortunate, but personal decision.

Bordoloi, the sitting MP from Nagaon, had resigned from Congress on Tuesday, citing differences and allegations of being humiliated. He joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday ahead of the Assembly polls in Assam on April 9.

“We view his decision as unfortunate. The Congress 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 (Bordoloi’s son Prateek from the Margherita seat). Yet he remains upset for personal reasons,” Gogoi said in Dibrugarh on his arrival from Delhi.

Responding to a question on the party’s stand regarding the candidature of Bordoloi’s son, Gogoi said, “I have sympathy and moral support for Prateek Bordoloi. Whatever decision he wishes to take, I will speak on behalf of the party.”

Bordoloi was chairman of the Congress’s manifesto committee for Assam and had prepared a ‘charge sheet’ of allegations and large-scale corruption against the BJP and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, which was released earlier this month.

“He had taken it upon himself to prepare the Congress election manifesto and had publicly exposed alleged corruption of CM Sarma, his wife, and the BJP government. Now, the same person has moved closer to the CM,” Congress MP from Dhubri Rakibul Hussain said.

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.