Cong Assam ex-chief switches over to TMC
GUWAHATI: In a major setback to the opposition Congress in Assam, senior leader and former state unit chief Ripun Bora quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Kolkata on Sunday.
A former minister in the Assam cabinet, Bora joined the TMC in the presence of party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
He had unsuccessfully contested last month’s Rajya Sabha elections.
Bora’s wife and former Congress MLA, Monika, and son Sid- dharth were also present at the event.
“From today I have started my new political journey!” the former Assam minister tweeted, while sharing a copy of a letter addressed to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on his resignation from the Congress.
Welcoming the Assam leader, Banerjee tweeted: “Extending a very warm welcome to Ripun Bora, a stalwart and skilled politician, who joined the TMC famwho ily today. We are extremely pleased to have you on board and look forward to working together for the well-being of our people.”
In his resignation letter, Bora, has been associated with the Congress since 1976, pointed out the infighting within the party which, he claimed, had “demoralised” party workers and paved the way for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to grow.
On the state of affairs in the state, Bora claimed there was “continuous inner fight by a section of senior most leaders of Assam”, which prevented the party from getting the peoples’ mandate in the 2021 assembly elections. He also alleged that some Congress leaders “have been maintaining secret understanding with the BJP government, mainly with the chief minister (Himanta Biswa Sarma).”
The state Congress dismissed his claims. “Bora’s resignation is unfortunate...but... his allegations that some Congress leaders in Assam are having secret understanding with BJP and the CM are baseless,” state Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said:
“I don’t want to comment on internal issues of Congress, but it is true that in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, it was cross voting by some Congress MLAS, which led to Bora’s defeat,” Sarma said.