In a development that has shaken the Congress party’s electoral prospects in Assam, veteran politician and Nagaon Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday, a day after submitting his resignation from the grand old party.
“I have taken this decision with a heavy heart”, said Pradyut Bordoloi to reporters after joining BJP on Wednesday (18 March).
According to India Today report, the switch was formalized in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP president Dilip Saikia, dealing a fresh and consequential blow to Congress at a particularly vulnerable moment, barely three weeks before the state goes to polls.
Party weakened? Congress Loses One of 3 Assam MPs
The timing could hardly have been worse. With Assam assembly elections scheduled for 9 April, Pradyut Bordoloi’s exit strips Congress of one of its three sitting Members of Parliament from the state.
The other two, state president Gaurav Gogoi, who represents Jorhat, and Rakibul Hussain of Dhubri, now carry the weight of an opposition whose parliamentary representation in Assam has been visibly eroded.
Pradyut Bordoloi, a former state cabinet minister and two-time MP from Nagaon constituency, carries significant political capital. A Cotton College and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus, he served as a four-time MLA from Margherita and had long-standing ties to the state NSUI dating back to his student years.
Pradyut Bordoloi had also been serving as chairman of Congress’s manifesto committee for these very assembly polls- a role that makes his departure all the more symbolically damaging.
The Resignation Letter That Signaled the Split
The break became public on Tuesday (17 March), when Pradyut Bordoloi sent a one-line resignation to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. The letter’s brevity carried the weight of finality, “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.”
State media department chairman Bedabrata Bora confirmed the letter to news agency. PTI from Guwahati. Senior Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam, and state party chief Gaurav Gogoi flew to meet Bordoloi in Delhi in an effort to contain the fallout, but to no avail.
Internal Tensions Behind the Break
Congress’s official line was swift to cast the resignation as a manufactured controversy. Gogoi told reporters, “I condemn such news of Bordoloi’s resignation. The chief minister, through the media, has been trying to malign him politically.”
Singh echoed the sentiment, describing the situation as familial: “The Congress blood runs in the veins of Bordoloi. We are members of one family and will remain so.”
Singh also sought to dismiss speculation of a BJP overture, stating, “No person will go to the BJP. Bhupen Borah recently went, and now he is running to secure a party ticket. No one even greets or invites to share the dais.” His reference was to former state Congress president Bhupen Borah, who had quit the party in February under similar circumstances, and whom Singh had similarly assured would not leave.
Yet the cracks in Congress’s internal cohesion run deeper than a single resignation. Prior to quitting, Bordoloi had written to Jitendra Singh warning that he would leave the party if Lahorighat MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar were nominated for the assembly polls.
In the letter, Pradyut Bordoloi alleged that Nazar’s close aide Emdadul Islam had been involved in an attack on Bordoloi and other party leaders in April 2025, and had been charge-sheeted by police in the case. He further claimed that Gogoi had personally met Islam at his residence earlier this year. Lahorighat falls within the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency that Bordoloi represents.
Ripple Effects: A Close Aide Follows
The departures did not end with Bordoloi. Nabajyoti Talukdar, a senior Assam Pradesh Congress Committee leader and a close political confidant of the MP, also resigned from the party on Tuesday.
Talukdar, who had been a ticket contender for the Guwahati Central seat, stepped away after another candidate was named for the constituency, according to a party source.
Son Remains a Congress Candidate — For Now
One notable twist in the unfolding drama: Pradyut Bordoloi’s son, Prateek, remains a Congress candidate from the Margherita seat in the upcoming polls.
Whether the father’s high-profile defection will affect the son’s campaign, or whether Prateek will hold his position, is a question that now hangs over the party’s planning in that constituency.
What the Defection Means for Assam’s Political Landscape
Pradyut Bordoloi’s move to the BJP is not merely a personal decision; it is a structural signal. Assam’s political terrain has been steadily consolidating around the ruling party under Himanta Biswa Sarma, himself a former Congress heavyweight who crossed the aisle years ago. Each defection reinforces that narrative — and makes it harder for Congress to present itself as a credible governing alternative to a state electorate that will cast its verdict within weeks.
For the BJP, welcoming a sitting MP so close to polling day is as much a moral exercise as it is a tactical gain. For Congress, it is a wound that speaks to unresolved tensions over candidate selection, internal accountability, and the authority of central leadership to manage its own house in the northeast.
