Assam Election 2026: When former Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi, then serving as the party’s state vice president, joined the BJP, it not only shocked the grand old party but also sparked internal jitters within the BJP as well. The decision was already made to field him from the Dispur assembly constituency, a seat held by the BJP’s Atul Bora in the outgoing assembly. As soon as the BJP announced Bordoloi’s candidature from the seat, Bora went berserk.
An incensed Atul Bora refused to accept the decision and floated the idea of contesting the seat as an independent. He also mulled to support the rival Congress candidate Mira Borthakur Goswami, a decision that could have proved drastic for the BJP. All this while, the BJP top brass and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were chalking out a contiengency plan and Sarma finally reached out to Bora with the 2029 Guwahati Lok Sabha seat offer. Bora eventually accepted the offer and announced that his focus is now towards the Parliamentary polls, leading to a ceasefire.
However, Bora was not the only contender for the Dispur seat. Jayant Das, a senior BJP leader serving the party for three decades, opened another front after Bordoloi got the ticket. Das told the Indian Express that he has been trying to get a ticket from the Dispur seat for the past three elections but was disappointed when Atul Bora was replaced by the Congress rebel. Das quit the party and announced an independent bid for the seat.
Jayant Das’ exit represents a resentment harboured deep inside by many BJP workers and even Pradyut Bordoloi is aware of the flutters his entry has caused within the saffron ranks. Addressing a rally, he urged the party workers to accept him as a member and promised to move ahead as a party of their family. “Please accept me as a member of your family, and I also want to move ahead as a part of you, through all your happiness and sorrows,” said Bordoloi.
Bordoloi is a seasoned politician as he has represented Assam’s Nagaon parliamentary constituency twice as a Congress MP and four times as an MLA from the Margherita assembly seat.
However, Bordoloi’s entry into the BJP is unlikely to cause a mass voter shift towards the Congress as the grand old party has fielded Mira Borthakur Goswami from the Dispur seat, who is also a rebel BJP leader. Goswami jumped ship in 2021 after 17 years with the BJP. The urban pockets of Guwahati have been a stronghold for the BJP since it came to power in 2016 and the saffron party hopes to gain a share of Congress votes as well with Bordoloi’s entry. The party leaders feel that this may compensate for the loss of voters who shift towards Das or Goswami, keeping the BJP much ahead in the race.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply