Ajanta Neog had announced on Saturday that he will join the BJP in the coming days.
Guwahati:
Months before the Assam assembly elections, Congress suffered another shock with two former members of the Liberation Army, Ajanta Neog and Rajdeep Gowala, who joined the BJP today.
Ms. Neog and Mr. Gowala had met with the Union Interior Minister Amit Shah in Guwahati on Saturday to finalize their incorporation. Soon after, Ms Neog announced that she will be joining the BJP in the next few days.
With these departures, Congress can no longer maintain its status as an Opposition party, as it is now reduced to just 20 MLA in the 126-member assembly. To remain the main Opposition party in the Assam legislative assembly, a party must have at least 21 MLAs.
Both leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Assam BJP President Ranjit Das and key BJP strategist in Northeast Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The new recruits to the BJP also claimed that while the ruling party is futuristic, Congress is a “party without vision.”
“There is a huge gap in Congress – gap between the party leadership and the grassroots workers and that’s the main reason we left. There is an isolation of the grassroots workers. Their national leadership doesn’t care what think grassroots workers, “said Ms. Neog said.
After joining the BJP, Gowala said that “there is no discipline in Congress” and that the party “has no leadership.”
“Congress is a party without a future, without vision, without direction, there is a leadership crisis and it cannot do any good to the people,” Gowala added.
Mr. Gowala and Ms. Neog are former members of the Congress of the Republic of Lakhipur and Golaghat, respectively. Ajanta Neog was a close confidant of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and also part of his cabinet.
The four-time MLA had recently met with Assam’s chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and the BJP’s key strategist in northeast Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Both leaders had resigned from the state assembly and had been expelled by the Congress party for their alleged “anti-party” activities. Rajdeep Gowala was expelled for six years from the party.
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