The departure of Assam Congress leaders Bhupen Borah and now Pradyut Bordoloi, which has added to the challenges of the Congress ahead of the state election, has sparked an internal debate in the state unit on why the party's senior leaders could not prevent it. While many question the role of the state party chief, others question how such an event could transpire under the watch of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Sources close to her have pointed out that the senior leader has been serving as the Chairperson of the Screening Committee and her role has been limited to the selection of candidates.
Bordoloi, often called Shashi Tharoor of the northeast for his erudition, resigned from his Lok Sabha seat yesterday and is now set to contest the assembly elections on a BJP ticket. He is the last in a long line of leaders from Assam Congress who have made a beeline for the BJP since Himanta Biswa Sarma changed camp.
Though Bordoloi has said his decision was the result of a slow estrangement and regular humiliations within the party and not so much about the election nomination, the perception that the latter is the key reason, persists.
Read: Assam MP On Why He Decided To Quit Congress, Recalls Shashi Tharoor Incident
Bordoloi had quit, sources said, after the Congress decided to give a ticket to an MLA with alleged underworld links for the coming assembly election. The candidature is yet to be announced.
Lahorighat MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar was allegedly linked to Emdadul Islam, who, Bordoloi said, was involved in a murderous attack on him and other party leaders in April 2025. The man was charge-sheeted and once he was out on bail, was felicitated by Nazar. On multiple occasions Islam was seen in the presence of Gaurav Gogoi, Bordoloi has said.
The MP said he had opposed Nazar's renomination during a screening committee meeting chaired by Priyanka Gandhi. But his reservations on the matter were rubbished at a committee meeting in New Delhi in presence of Gogoi, he claimed.
Bordoloi had indicated that this last humiliation was the trigger for his decision -- which pointed to the screening committee - especially since he had written to the state Congress warning that he would resign if Nazar was re-nominated.
Congress sources said Gandhi Vadra has executed her task as the chairperson of the Screening Committee competently. The names of most candidates have already been announced, including the decision to grant a ticket to Pradyut Bordoloi's son, though it is not known if he would accept.
Read: Pradyut Bordoloi, 'Shashi Tharoor Of Northeast', Quits Congress. What It Means
Calling Bordoloi's decision "unfortunate", Gaurav Gogoi asserted that the Congress had given him everything.
"Just two years ago, the Congress party offered him the opportunity to contest the Lok Sabha ticket from Nagaon. He is a sitting Member of Parliament; the people of Nagaon voted for him. And in this present election, the Congress party offered an opportunity to a member of his family to contest the Vidhan Sabha elections. If our current Nagaon Lok Sabha Member of Parliament wants Himanta Biswa Sarma to continue as the Chief Minister, well, that is his decision, which is rather unfortunate," Gogoi said.
In private conversations, Congress MPs have alluded to the role of the Enforcement Directorate and other government agencies in the matter.
The state Congress now has a list of leaders whose departures they have to explain: Bhupen Borah's departure from the party on February 22, the defection of three MLAs from the Congress to the BJP on March 5, the switch of former Assam Congress Working President Rana Goswami to the BJP, the exit of former Assam Youth Congress President Ankita Das and Joint General Secretary Parba Das Kalita.
The continuous and systematic departures, most leaders agree off the record, have progressively weakened the party. The current dispensation, though, maintains that the party, which currently has 29 MLAs in the 126-member House, will put up a strong fight in the election.
from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/8L2CDSr
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