‘Felt humiliated and suffocated’: After joining BJP, Pradyut Bordoloi slams Congress, calls Imran Masood 'communal'

NEW DELHI: After officially joining the BJP on Wednesday following his resignation from the Congress, Nagaon Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi said his decision was driven by persistent internal humiliation and a lack of support from the party leadership.


"There is not just one reason. I was feeling suffocated, and I was being humiliated," news agency ANI quoted Bordoloi as saying.




Referring to an Assam Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, Bordoloi said he was deeply hurt after Congress leader Imran Masood dismissed his allegations against a candidate, whom he had accused of running a criminal nexus, as "fabricated".

Masood, the Lok Sabha MP from Saharanpur, is a member of the Congress screening committee for the upcoming Assam elections.

"I came to know that a communal leader like Imraan Masood said that everything I was talking about and saying about a candidate against whom I had given evidence of a criminal nexus was false and fabricated. Imran Masood, in the presence of the party's top leadership, had the audacity to say that all that Pradyut Bordoloi said was fabricated. The APCC president present there remained silent. This hurt me a lot," said Bordoloi.

Bordoloi joined the BJP in the presence of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP President Dilip Saikia.

Earlier, Bordoloi had accused the Congress leadership of sidelining him, saying that internal mistreatment had brought his long association with the party to an end.

He said his resignation was the result of "multiple issues" and not solely linked to ticket allocation for the Assam Assembly elections.

"For me, getting a ticket was not a question of life and death. There were multiple issues. What was important for me was to hold my head high. The Congress party has given me a lot," he told the media.

"I want to make it very clear that I am in my second term in Lok Sabha, and there are another three years to go. I could have accepted the humiliation if I wanted to remain as an MP. But I decided to leave and work," he added.

Following Bordoloi's resignation, the Congress has fielded his son from the Margherita assembly constituency for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Bordoloi's resignation comes a month after former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah joined the BJP after serving in the Congress for three decades.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "Vichaar-dhara bhi kuch hoti hai", stressing that political ideology should also be taken into account while making such decisions.

Elections for all 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam will be held in a single phase on April 9, while counting of votes is scheduled for May 4, according to the Election Commission of India.

Assam is set to witness a contest between the ruling BJP-led NDA and the Congress for the 126-seat Assembly. The BJP, led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, will seek a third consecutive term, while the Congress will aim to unseat the ruling party.

(With agency inputs)