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Ex-Assam Congress president Borah to join BJP on Feb 22: CM Himanta Sarma
Himanta Biswa Sarma says former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah will join BJP on Feb 22 amid speculation over his resignation
Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that former state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah, who resigned from his post a day earlier, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on February 22.
The statement comes amid speculation over what decision Borah would take after the 55-year-old’s resignation was kept on hold as the Congress leadership refused to accept it and asked him to reconsider.
After visiting Borah at his Guwahati residence on Tuesday evening, CM Sarma said, “Borah will will join BJP on February 22 for which our state president Dilip Saikia will work out the details. Along with him a good number of Congress leaders will join in Guwahati and in Lakhimpur.”
Borah was the chairman of the Congress’s campaign committee and a former colleague of Sarma, as both had joined the Congress around the same time, with Sarma joining the BJP in 2015.
“His joining will strengthen the BJP as he is the last recognized Hindu leader in the Congress party in Assam. We are very happy to have him in our party and our national president Nitin Nabin has already approved his joining and welcomed him,” Sarma said.
Sarma added Borah will be given “respect and dignity as per his stature” and that the Congress leader’s joining will be like a “homecoming” as the BJP has a lot of people like us whose fathers didn’t occupy high posts.
“BJP is a party of people with simple backgrounds and simple lives. I think he will enjoy his new family very much,” he said.
Borah represented the Bihpuria Assembly seat for two consecutive terms between 2006 and 2016. He is expected to contest the upcoming polls, likely in April, from the same seat.
Borah was made the Assam Congress president in August 2021 and was replaced in May last year, with the position handed over to Lok Sabha MP and son of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Gaurav Gogoi.
He was heading the party’s state unit in efforts to forge an alliance with other opposition parties to take on the ruling BJP from a common platform. However, he was reportedly unhappy with the sudden inclusion of Lok Sabha MP from Dhubri, Rakibul Hussain, in the same committee a few days ago.
“I have been a dedicated Congress worker for 32 years and did my best to revive the party and also forge an alliance with other parties to take on the BJP. I have no problem continuing with Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), but I can’t work for APCC (R),” he said earlier on Tuesday without naming Rakibul Hussain directly.
Congress leaders in Assam said that Borah’s exit just ahead of the Assembly election will negatively impact the party’s prospects as well as its attempts to form an alliance with other like-minded parties.
“When a senior and dedicated leader like Borah leaves the party, it is definitely a big loss. And it happening just prior to the polls has made it even worse for us,” a Congress MLA said on condition of anonymity.
