Jolt for Congress now from Assam, 2 MLAs ‘extend support’ to BJP government

DAYS AFTER Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra left the Congress, the party’s working president, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, resigned from his post Wednesday, while “extending support” to the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government’s “developmental work”. Congress Mangaldoi MLA Basanta Das also announced his support to Sarma, with the Chief Minister meeting the two Congress leaders soon after.

Purkayastha, the Congress MLA from North Karimganj, wrote to Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Boreh, saying he would “continue work only as a primary member of the Congress party.” Speaking to the media, Puryakastha said he and Das had decided to support the BJP government for “the development of the Vidhan Sabha, the constituency, the state and the people of the state”.

“In the matter of the Chief Minister’s vision for upliftment (for the state), there is no politics… We will give our cooperation to the government so that there is no politics in the field of development,” he added, avoiding questions on whether his unusual announcement meant a move to the BJP.

Soon after meeting the two Congress leaders, Sarma heralded the move as a “new trend” and said there was “no real Opposition” in Assam. Assam will soon “become a state where all MLAs will support the state government and the Central government”, he added.

“It would be good if this happens in all the states because Modi is not the leader of a particular party but of the country… People are very happy with the kind of work that PM Modi is doing in Assam… I am sure that in minds and hearts, there is no Opposition in Assam. But, because of certain compulsions, they (leaders) are in the Opposition. Now, people are breaking that compulsion and coming closer to us,” Sarma told