Guwahati: In a significant political development ahead of the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, three Congress legislators joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday along with two other leaders.
The MLAs — Kamalakhya De Purakayastha, Sashikanta Das and Basanta Das — were formally inducted into the party by Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia in the presence of Union minister Pabitra Margherita at a programme held in the state.
The political shift comes after former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah joined the BJP.
Elections to the 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly are expected to take place in April.
Among the three legislators who switched sides, Purakayastha represents the Karimganj (North) constituency, while Sashikanta Das and Basanta Das are the sitting MLAs from Raha and Mangaldoi (SC), respectively.
Two other leaders who also joined the BJP are former Congress joint secretary Parsha Bob Kalita and former Trinamool Congress general secretary Kangkan Nath.
The three MLAs are considered close to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and have been openly supportive of the BJP in recent years. Sashikanta Das had publicly backed the ruling party’s policies as early as 2021.
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The Congress has faced a series of setbacks in the state in recent weeks. Apart from Borah’s move to the BJP on February 22, two other MLAs — Abdul Rashid Mondal and Sherman Ali Ahmed — joined the Raijor Dal last month.
Mondal and Ahmed are both three-time legislators representing the Goalpara (West) and Baghbar constituencies, respectively.
