HT Bureau
Guwahati, April 17: Veteran Congress leader from Assam and the party’s former state president Ripun Bora on Sunday quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress.
After his switch, Bora, a former Assam minister and ex-Rajya Sabha member, tweeted: “From today I have started my new political journey!”
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The Congress leader, accompanied by his wife and son, met Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata and formally joined the party. Trinamool MPs Derek O’Brien and Susmita Dev, who was also in the Congress earlier, were also present.
Banerjee later tweeted: “Extending a very warm welcome to Shri Ripun Bora, a stalwart and skilled politician, who joined the AITC family today. We are extremely pleased to have you onboard and look forward to working together for the well-being of our people!”
Meanwhile, Bora alleged that several leaders of Congress were working in connivance with the BJP in the state, particularly with chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Bora said in his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that infighting within the grand old party helped BJP and compelled him to leave despite having been a member since his student days in 1976.
“I am very pained to inform you that it is an open secret in Assam that instead of fighting against BJP, a section of senior most leaders of Assam PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) have been maintaining secret understanding with BJP govt mainly with the Chief Minister,” Bora said in his resignation letter.
The former state minister also alleged that some of the Congress party leaders “played a role in such a manner which paved the way for the BJP to win both the Rajya Sabha seats” from Assam recently.
Bora was renominated by the Congress for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament.
He, as a joint candidate of the Opposition parties in Assam, had unsuccessfully contested the recently held Rajya Sabha elections.
Bora claimed that he, after assuming charge as APCC chief in 2016, was able to bring the Congress to a position where people expected it to form the state government in 2021 state polls.
“But due to continuous inner fight by a section of senior most leaders of Assam PCC, people lost faith in us and did not give mandate,” he said.
Bora also stated that instead of being united in fighting the BJP which is a “serious threat to the democracy, constitution and secularism and economy of our country”, Congress leaders at different levels are “fighting each other for their vested interests”.
“This has given the BJP ample advantages to grow in every nook and corner in one hand and another, demoralising millions of Congress workers of the country,” Bora wrote, adding that the leaders in Assam have been “not an exception”.
“Under this backdrop, my conscience does not allow me to continue in the Congress party where the party’s interest and ideology are being compromised in favour of BJP for some vested interest of few leaders,” he also added. (With inputs from agencies)
