Pradyut Bordoloi Exit: How a loyal Congress MP from Assam was compelled to affix BJP

“Congressis like me can by no means depart the get together. It is unimaginable for us to think about politics past the Congress,” I keep in mind Pradyut Bordoloi telling a bunch of journalists from Assam at a gathering in New Delhi’s Press Membership in 2016. Himanta Biswa Sarma had not too long ago stop the Congress to affix the BJP in 2015, and amid the flurry of exits that adopted, the dyed-in-the-wool Congressman was reiterating his allegiance to the get together. However the “by no means” simply occurred.

Learn Full Story

On Wednesday, Pradyut Bordoloi joined the BJP and was welcomed by Himanta, the Chief Minister of Assam, and BJP state President Dilip Saikia.

Late on Tuesday night time, because the information of Pradyut Bordoloi, the Congress MP from Assam’s Nagaon, broke, I known as up a number of sources to verify the information. Such was the shock of Bordoloi leaving the Congress, a celebration he was related to for 3 a long time. The factor of shock was there regardless of seeing how Bordoloi went by “insults and humiliation” in recent times. We’ll come again to that later after discussing why his exit from the Congress is critical and reeks of a celebration in disarray.

Bordoloi’s departure from the get together will depart simply two Congress MPs — Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain — from Assam within the Lok Sabha now. The Congress tally would go right down to 98. His exit comes near Bhupen Bora, a former state Congress President, becoming a member of the BJP.

The exit of 66-year-old Bordoloi is dangerous press symbolically too.

In a celebration that has seen dynasts, Pradyut Bordoloi was a first-generation politician who climbed up the political ladder. A four-time MLA from Margherita in Higher Assam and a two-time MP from Nogaon, Bordoloi held highly effective departments within the authorities of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Himanta and Pradyut have been seen as ministers competing for posts and affect. Whereas Himanta was recognized for his rustic allure, Pradyut was a suave politician.

He did his MPhil in economics from JNU, the place he engaged in college students politics. A very good orator, Bordoloi was the Congress’s face from the Northeast within the Lok Sabha and out of doors it till Gaurav Gogoi’s look on the scene. His speeches in Parliament have been well-researched and well-delivered.

Bordoloi was picked because the bypoll candidate from Margherita, a Congress fortress, for the primary time in 1998. His work to restore roads and bridges continues to be spoken about within the small city in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

Margherita, a coal city with tea gardens, has punched above its weight with regards to politics. It has three MPs within the present Parliament. Aside from its personal MP, Sarbananda Sonowal, Pabitra Margherita (now a Union minister) and Bordoloi hail from the city.

Pradyut misplaced the 2016 Meeting election to Bhaskar Sharma by 22,000 votes as a BJP wave swept by Assam. He was elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Nagaon within the 2019 Lok Sabha election. That was the seat he fought to maintain for himself within the 2024 election as Gaurav Gogoi, the son of Tarun Gogoi, was seat-hunting after dropping his Kaliabor seat within the delimitation train. Whereas Gaurav gained from Jorhat, Bordoloi retained Nagaon, a seat that has a considerable Muslim inhabitants.

Bear in mind, Bordoloi stop regardless of nonetheless having three years to function an elected Lok Sabha MP, and his son, Prateek, being fielded by the get together from Margherita for the 2026 Assam Meeting election.

Himanta, nevertheless, made it clear on Wednesday that the BJP can be taking good care of Bordoloi’s pursuits. However there will need to have been a lot desperation for him to depart the Congress as a result of he was thought of near the get together’s first household.

“In the present day, I’ve deserted some of the necessary ideas of my life… I made this choice as a result of I used to be continually being insulted on many points by anybody who approached me from inside the Congress Celebration, particularly within the Assam Congress,” mentioned Bordoloi to ANI on Tuesday night time.

“I used to be being humiliated and no one was sympathetic. Even the Congress management was not displaying sympathy in the direction of me… I turned very remoted and lonely,” he added.

Himanta, who confronted humiliation within the Congress, mentioned on Wednesday how anybody with “any self-respect” could not keep within the get together.

Past the side-lining, journalists in Assam converse of the harrowing one 12 months that Pradyut Bordoloi confronted in Assam by the hands of the get together. That has to do with the focused assault on him throughout the panchayat elections in Might 2025 and the sequence of occasions after that.

Bordoloi was left bleeding in his head after he was attacked in Nagaon district’s Dhing space in April 2025 by a bunch led by Emdadul Islam, an aide of Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar.

Asif Nazar was warmly obtained by MLA Nazar upon his launch from jail after just a few months. The MLA from Laharighat, a part of the Nagaon seat, additionally organized for him to be felicitated by Gaurav Gogoi in January this 12 months.

Bordoloi himself wrote about these in his letter to Jitendra Singh Alwar, Normal Secretary AICC, opposing a ticket for him for the upcoming Assam Meeting election.

So as to add insult to damage, Uttar Pradesh MP and screening committee member Imran Masood publicly said that the proof produced towards Nazar was false and fabricated.

“It was a communal MP from Uttar Pradesh, Imran Masood, who refused to sing the nationwide track Vande Mataram. He was given some accountability in Assam. When he got here to Assam, he began stoking communal forces. He truly consolidated the criminals. So, due to all these causes and others too, I felt very suffocated,” Bordoloi revealed on Wednesday.

He known as the get together’s embracing of “communal parts” the “the final straw” that led to his resignation. Congress contested his claims, and a few have been of the opinion that Bordoloi’s change was a strategic selection, timed with the Meeting election in Assam.

Jitendra Singh refuted Bordoloi’s allegations that the Congress had already accommodated Nazar. “Two lists of Indian Nationwide Congress candidates in Assam are already out and the candidate he had objections was not in both. This implies we have been contemplating Pradyut Bordoloi ji’s suggestions. I’ve spoken to him on this couple of occasions and he knew, my stand,” he posted on X.

Gaurav Gogoi mentioned Bordoloi’s choice got here even because the MP’s son had been given a Congress ticket for the Asembly elections. “He is a sitting member of Parliament… the Congress supplied a chance to a member of his household to contest the Vidhan Sabha elections. Regardless of that, he decided which is his private choice. This election is way more necessary than one particular person,” Gogoi informed ANI.

Although Bordoloi has never indulged in communal politics, the BJP will now get contemporary ammo given the background of the individuals concerned within the assault and the Congress’s endorsement of them.

Bordoloi had threatened to stop over the problem and camped in Delhi. On Tuesday night time, he walked the menace, and on Wednesday, he joined the BJP.

What’s central to the theme is the Congress’s incapacity to retain expertise and honour loyalty. Whereas each political get together witnesses rifts and inside politics, the Congress has made a behavior of mishandling such conditions and dropping battle-hardened leaders. Bordoloi had, to date, remained within the Congress at the same time as many others left amid a low ebb within the get together’s fortunes.

Within the final decade, the BJP has develop into a political juggernaut in Assam, successful election after election. Will probably be seeking to contesting and successful extra Lok Sabha seats when the pan-India delimitation train provides constituencies within the state. So, when the 2029 Lok Sabha election is performed, the BJP is prone to make the very best use of senior leaders like Bordoloi. For now, Bordoloi is prone to be given an MLA ticket from Dispur. The exit of Pradyut Bordoloi, who vouched to by no means depart the get together that had develop into his nest, is an enormous loss for the Congress, which could reveal its true influence within the months to come back.

– Ends