3 Assam Congress MLAs join BJP ahead of polls
Three Congress MLAs — Kamalakhya De Purakayastha, Sashikanta Das and Basanta Das — on Thursday joined the ruling BJP in Assam, along with two others, ahead of the Assembly polls. All of them were inducted into the party by State BJP president Dilip Saikia in the presence of Union Minister Pabitra Margherita at a function here. The two others who joined the BJP are former Congress joint secretary Parsha Bob Kalita and former Trinamool Congress general secretary Kangkan Nath.
The development comes close on the heels of former Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah joining the saffron party. Elections are likely to be held in April. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa.
Sarma said that for the last two years, the MLAs were supporting his government in the legislative Assembly, and “today, they have formally joined the party and I welcome them to the BJP”.
Asked whether they will be given tickets in the upcoming Assembly elections, Sarma said the matter had not been discussed yet, but the party’s State election committee “would now consider it”. ‘’Their names will be in the panel, but the Central Parliamentary Board will take the final decision regarding ticket allotment,” he said.
Sarma said it has already been discussed with them that nobody joins the BJP for election tickets, but at the same time ‘’there is no hurdle in seeking the same and it will be given on the basis of their prospects’’. “They have joined the BJP unconditionally, and there is nothing like new or old members... we are all the same within the party,” the CM said. He also said that the three MLAs had openly supported the BJP during the last Lok Sabha elections.
Purakayastha represents Karimganj (North), while Sashikanta and Basanta are sitting MLAs from the Raha and Mangaldoi (SC) constituencies, respectively. The Congress had suffered a jolt, with Borah joining the BJP on February 22, while two other MLAs, Abdul Rashid Mondal and Sherman Ali Ahmed, switched over to the Raijor Dal last month. Both Mondal and Ahmed are three-time legislators from Goalpara (West) and Baghbar.
