Denied a ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the prestigious Dispur seat, sitting MLA Atul Bora now faces an uncertain political future as he weighs his options after being replaced by former Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, left, welcoming Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi into the Bharatiya Janata Party, in New Delhi. (PTI)

Bora, who has represented Dispur since 2016, is among 19 sitting MLAs, including a minister, who were dropped as the party fielded several new and younger candidates, including a sizeable number of those who switched sides from the Congress, across 88 constituencies where candidates were announced on Wednesday.

“Now I have three options. Contest as an independent, extend my support to the Congress candidate or do nothing. I will hear my supporters before taking a decision,” said the 66-year-old after the ticket was denied to him.

A sizeable section of the ruling party’s candidates are former Congress members—some who switched over a decade ago, such as chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and others like Bordoloi, who resigned as a Lok Sabha MP and joined the BJP just a day before being given a ticket. A review of the party’s list shows that around 19 candidates have a Congress background.

Bordoloi, who resigned as Congress MP on Wednesday, said, “I have joined the BJP to work for the people.” “Bordoloi sacrificed a lot to join the BJP, not with the hope of getting something. He had more than three years left as MP, but still he decided to join us. I don’t think anyone will oppose his nomination,” CM Sarma said.

Apart from Sarma and Bordoloi, another senior Congress leader, Bhupen Kumar Borah, who quit the grand old party last month and joined the BJP, has been given the ticket for Bihpuria, which he had represented twice earlier. A close confidant of the CM, the chief executive member of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), who has been given the ticket from Rongkhang, had joined the BJP from the Congress in 2010.

Other former Congress leaders who find mention in the BJP list are ministers Pijush Hazarika (Jagiroad), Jayanta Malla Baruah (Nalbari), MLAs Diganta Kalita (Kamalpur) and Bolin Chetia (Sadiya), and former MP Pallab Lochan Das (Biswanath).

All these leaders switched sides in 2015 along with Sarma. Known as close associates of the CM, they have been elected on BJP tickets to both the Assembly and Parliament, and some became ministers. Finance minister Ajanta Neog and MLA Rajdeep Goala, who joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 elections, have been given tickets from the Golaghat and Udarbond seats.

Besides them, two Congress MLAs who switched sides soon after the 2021 polls, Rupjyoti Kurmi (Mariani) and Sushanta Borgohain (Demow), and two more legislators who joined the BJP last month, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha (Katigorah) and Sashi Kanta Das (Raha), were also given tickets this time.

The important factor behind these switches since 2015 has been Himanta Biswa Sarma himself. Having left the Congress along with nine MLAs after being sidelined for the CM’s post, the 57-year-old has been able to orchestrate defections from his old party due to his good equations with most leaders. And he is not finished yet.

“Congress today has become such a party where anyone who has self-respect, especially in Assam, cannot remain associated with it. In the coming days, others from the party like Debabrata Saikia (the Congress leader of opposition in the Assam Assembly) and Ripun Bora (former Congress state president) will also join us. Our aim is to bring all good leaders who are still in Congress to the BJP,” Sarma said on Wednesday after welcoming Bordoloi to the saffron fold.