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Assam: Former BJP IT cell chief Prodyut Bora merges his party with Congress
Prodyut Bora, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, said the move was necessary to take a united stand against the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections
A regional party in Assam, founded by the first head of Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology (IT) cell and former national executive committee member, merged with the Congress on Tuesday.
Prodyut Bora, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, said the decision was taken after a majority of his party members agreed that the move was necessary to take a united stand against the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections.
“Our party, LDP, has taken a decision to merge with the Congress. It was a unanimous decision by our party members, who feel that India needs to build a united opposition to change the blanket of hatred and untruth that has enveloped the country. I bow to their collective decision,” Bora said.
An alumnus of St Stephen’s College in Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, Bora joined the BJP in 2004 as member of the party’s national media cell. In 2007, he became the national convenor of BJP’s IT cell.
Bora, who was close to LK Advani and Rajnath Singh, quit the saffron party in 2015 in protest against the “highly individualised/centralised style of decision making” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then BJP national president Amit Shah.
The same year, he founded the LDP as a regional outfit in Assam, not aligned with either the BJP or the Congress.
“Our fight is against BJP and the Modi government. The party leadership felt that the Congress is the best platform to carry on that fight. In our eight years of existence, not a single LDP member has joined the BJP. We tried our bit, but a bigger platform with a wider base was needed to continue,” he said.
At present, the LDP has units in 11 districts of Assam. The party contested 14 of the 126 assembly seats in the 2016 state polls but failed to win any. It decided against contesting in the 2021 assembly elections.
The LDP was among the nine parties that met earlier this month in Guwahati following Assam Congress’ call to form a united front against the BJP for the 2024 polls. The other parties were Jatiya Dal, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Nationalist Congress Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal.
“We welcome LDP’s decision to merge with Congress. To fight against the BJP, everyone who is ideologically opposed to it should come together. Bora has been a leader and an insider in the saffron party and his party joining us will take our fight against BJP by leaps and bounds,” Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said.
