Himanta says BJP doors open for him
Former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah resigned on Monday, triggering a political storm in the poll-bound state with the party’s senior leaders claiming that he has reconsidered his resignation after the intervention of the high command, while Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma publicly invited him to join the BJP.
AICC state in-charge Jitendra Singh claimed that Borah has withdrawn his resignation after party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi spoke to him. Borah, however, said he has sought time from the high command to reconsider his decision.
‘’The party leadership has discussed the matter with Borah. Rahul Gandhi also spoke to him for 15 minutes,’’ Singh told reporters here outside Borah’s house.
‘’This is our internal matter; we discussed in detail about the issues bothering him and I thank him for agreeing to withdraw his resignation,’’ he said.
Emerging from his residence, Borah, however, said he has sought time from the high command to reconsider his decision.
‘’My old colleagues and the party’s central leadership came to my house, and I respect them. I have sought time till tomorrow morning so that I can talk to my family and take a decision in this regard,’’ he said.
‘’The decision now is not only mine; I have to discuss it with my family, particularly with my brothers, whose business interests have been affected due to me being in the Congress,’’ Borah said.
He added, “Along with my brothers, I will meet Singh and let him know about my decision (by tomorrow morning).”
Senior Congress leaders, including Singh, Assam unit chief Gaurav Gogoi, MP Pradyut Bordoloi, leader of opposition in the Assembly Debabrata Saikia and other party MLAs, met Borah at his residence here, after he sent a letter to the party high command earlier in the day, announcing his resignation.
Gogoi said Borah was a ‘’pillar of strength’’ for the party, and he has always raised his voice against the negative forces active in the state.
Borah is a ‘’true Congressman, a courageous leader with Assamese culture, civilisation and the party ideology of taking everyone together to move ahead deeply embedded in his DNA”, he said.
‘’I apologise to him as a younger brother if he felt hurt due to certain issues in the party,’’ he said.
“This is a complex matter for us. We are also learning one step at a time, and hope that in future, he will guide us so that not only the Congress, but the opposition parties, too, are strengthened’’, the Deputy Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said. Borah had earlier sent his resignation letter to Kharge. In the letter, he claimed that he was being “ignored” by the party leadership and not being accorded his due in the state unit.
Chief Minister Sarma said the BJP’s doors were open for Borah and promised to help him get elected from a “safe seat” if he joined.
Sarma said Borah was the “last Hindu leader” in the Congress without a family background — father or mother not occupying a ministerial post or being an MLA.
‘’His resignation carries the symbolic message that in the Congress, no one from a normal family can prosper. Congress does not give recognition to people from ordinary families, but I hail from an ordinary middle-class family and the BJP has made me a chief minister. We stay opposite to the politics of blue blood,’’ he told reporters here outside the Assembly.
Sarma said he will go to Borah’s residence tomorrow evening, and discuss his plans for the future.
“Borah has not contacted me or the BJP till now and at present, we are not in direct or indirect touch”, the CM said.
‘’If he wants to join the BJP, we will welcome him, but even if he does not want to do so, we extend our best wishes to him’’, he said.
Borah was the president of the Assam Congress unit from 2021 to 2025, and was replaced by Gaurav Gogoi last year. He has been a two-time legislator in Assam.
The United Opposition Forum, Assam, also appealed to Borah to withdraw his resignation with its spokesperson and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi saying that the forum will not allow him to leave the opposition camp at any cost.
‘’No one from the united opposition will let him join the BJP even if PM Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah comes. He was, is and will remain with us. Who will let him go…we will carry him everywhere with us’’, Gogoi said.
Borah is hurt due to some issues in the Congress but their party leaders ‘’are talking to him and we expect the matter to be resolved soon’’, he added.
‘’Even if he does not stay in the Congress, be rest assured that he will not join the BJP. He will be made the senior-most leader of the forum, and if he does not agree to even this, then I will relinquish the president’s post of Raijor Dal, but will not allow such an experienced person to join the BJP’’, the independent MLA from Sivasagar said.
The CM is trying to create confusion in the minds of the common people by spreading the false narrative that Borah will join the BJP but ‘’this will not happen…we will not let it happen’’, Gogoi added.