Three Congress MLAs — Kamalakhya De Purakayastha, Sashikanta Das and Basanta Das joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam on Thursday, along with two other leaders, ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.
The legislators were formally inducted into the BJP by state party president Dilip Saikia at a programme in Guwahati in the presence of Union minister Pabitra Margherita.
Along with the three MLAs, former Congress joint secretary Parsha Bob Kalita and former Trinamool Congress general secretary Kangkan Nath also joined the saffron party.
The development comes close on the heels of former Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah joining the BJP last month, in a significant political shift ahead of the state polls. Elections to the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly are expected to be held in April.
Welcoming the new entrants, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the three MLAs had been supporting the BJP-led government in the Assembly for the past two years.
“For the last two years, they were supporting our government in the Assembly, and today they have formally joined the party. I welcome them to the BJP,” Sarma said.
When asked whether the newly inducted legislators would be given party tickets in the upcoming elections, the chief minister said the matter had not yet been discussed.
“The state election committee will consider their names. Their names will be in the panel, but the Central Parliamentary Board will take the final decision regarding ticket allotment,” he said.
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Sarma also said that while party membership was not linked to ticket distribution, there was no restriction on seeking nominations.
“It has already been discussed with them that nobody joins the BJP for election tickets. At the same time, there is no hurdle in seeking the same and it will be given on the basis of their prospects,” he said.
“They have joined the BJP unconditionally, and there is nothing like new or old members... we are all the same within the party,” the chief minister added.
Purakayastha represents the Karimganj (North) constituency, while Sashikanta Das and Basanta Das are sitting MLAs from Raha and Mangaldoi (SC), respectively.
The Congress has suffered multiple setbacks in recent weeks. Besides Borah’s exit, two other MLAs — Abdul Rashid Mondal and Sherman Ali Ahmed joined the Raijor Dal last month.
Mondal and Ahmed are three-time legislators representing Goalpara (West) and Baghbar constituencies respectively.
In the current 126-member Assembly, the Congress has 26 MLAs, while the BJP holds 64 seats. Its allies include the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) with nine MLAs, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) with seven and the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) with three.
The Congress is leading the opposition alliance ‘Asom Sonmilito Morcha’ to challenge the BJP in the upcoming elections and has already announced its first list of 42 candidates.
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