GUWAHATI: Putting an end to all speculation, two-time Congress MLA Sushanta Borgohain on Friday resigned from the Congress with immediate effect citing “changed internal political atmosphere” within the party.
Borgohain is the second Congress MLA to quit in less than three months of the second BJP-led government returning to power in Assam.
Four-time MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi, who was the lone MLA from the tea tribe community in the Congress, had resigned as a legislator on June 18 and joined the BJP on June 21.
Borgohain told media persons here on Friday that he would resign as the MLA from Thowra constituency on Saturday.
Three prominent Congress leaders in the district Rupam Bhunya, Mamud Ali and Abhijit Bortamuli also resigned from the Congress following Sushanta’s exit.
Borgohain is likely to join the BJP on August 2. He will be followed by 2-3 more MLAs of the opposition parties.
Sending the resignation letter through email to the APCC president Bhupen Borah, Borgohain said: “My resignation from a party, which was like a family to me, has to be read in conjunction with the changed internal political atmosphere within the party, something I tried very hard to change so that the party remains relevant in a state like Assam.
“Unfortunately, all the efforts in this direction proved futile, compelling me to take this ultimate decision and the exact reasons for such a painful move on my part have already been conveyed to the senior leadership of the party both in the state and at the centre,” he said.
He, who has been associated with the Congress for a long period since his NSUI days, first became the MLA from Thowra constituency in Sivasagar district in 2011, but lost in 2016. Borgohain won the 2021 Assembly polls from Thowra by defeating incumbent BJP MLA Kushal Dowari by 2,006 votes.
“On August 2, Sushanta Borgohain is likely to join the BJP. There is a possibility of 2-3 more MLAs joining the BJP in coming days,” chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on the sidelines of a function in Kokrajhar on Friday.
Meanwhile, Sivasagar District Congress Committee president Laksminath Handique said that Borgohain’s sudden decision to leave the party has saddened the workers in the constituency but at the same time the incident has doubly increased their resolve to defeat him if he contests on a BJP ticket. Handique also said that their last effort to persuade Borgohain failed when he and Congress working president Rana Goswami met Borgohain in his residence on July 28.
Handique said that some speculations are rife in social media about former BJP MLA from Thowra Kushal Duwori’s bid for entry into the Congress fold, but the decision rests on the APCC and if he accepts the Congress ideology there can be no bar.
