- "I have been feeling a little, I would say, humiliated," Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi told reporters
- He said it started because he decided to side with Shashi Tharoor when he ran for Congress chief
- His resignation comes barely weeks before the April 9 Assam polls
It had been building up for some time, Assam Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi conceded today after he crossed over to the rival BJP, dashing his parent party's hopes just weeks before the April 9 state polls.
The start, he said, was his backing of Shashi Tharoor's run for the Congress chief.
"I have been feeling a little, I would say, humiliated. Probably the reason, it all started from, you know, when I decided to side with Shashi Tharoor. In the organisational election, Shashi Tharoor put forward his candidature and I was his proposer. I don't know why, because I thought that of promoting a thriving democracy inside the party as we had a lot of examples in the past," Bordoloi, who was the chairman of the Congress manifesto committee, told reporters today after he joined his new party.
In 2022, Shashi Tharoor unsuccessfully ran for the Congress president's post that has been with the Gandhis -- either Sonia Gandhi or her son Rahul -- for over 20 years.
In the final contest, Mallikarjun Kharge emerged the winner.
"M Kharge was magnanimous, he did not hold a grudge against me. But then I was shunted out from every forum inside the party as if I am a persona non grata in the Congress party," Bordoloi, 66, added.
The veteran leader's resignation comes a month after former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah joined the BJP, who served in the Congress for three decades.
Referring to a specific Assam Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, Pradyut Bordoloi said he felt hurt after Imran Masood dismissed his allegations against a candidate whom he accused of running a criminal nexus, as "fabricated".
"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.
He clarified that the resignation stemmed from "multiple issues" as opposed to a singular ticket allocation for the Assam Assembly elections.
Pradyut Bordoloi being welcomed into the BJP
"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 reporters.
Bordoloi's son Prateek is a Congress candidate from Margherita seat for the polls.
Gaurav Gogoi, Assam Congress chief, underscored that the election is "much more important than one person".
"Just two years ago, the Congress offered him the opportunity to contest the Lok Sabha ticket from Nagaon. He is a sitting member of Parliament. And in this present election, the Congress offered an opportunity to a member of his family to contest the Vidhan Sabha elections. So the Bordoloi family at the same time got the opportunity to represent Lok Sabha and has got the opportunity to represent the Vidhan Sabha. Despite that, he took a decision which is his personal decision," Gogoi said.
In the one-line resignation letter addressed to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday, the Bordoloi said, "With an overwhelming sense of sadness today, I hereby tender my resignation from all posts, privileges and the primary membership of the Indian National Congress."
Another senior Assam Congress leader and a close aide of Bordoloi, Nabajyoti Talukdar, also resigned from the party earlier on Tuesday.
Bordoloi had recently sent a letter, stating that he could resign from the party if incumbent Lahorighat MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar was renominated for the Assembly polls.
The MP said in the letter that Nazar's close aide Emdadul Islam was involved in an attack on Bordoloi and other party leaders in April 2025, and was also charge-sheeted by the police in the case.
He also claimed that Gaurav Gogoi had personally met Islam earlier this year at his residence. Lahorighat comes under the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency.
