Blow to Congress in Assam as former state chief Ripun Bora quits party, joins TMC

Blow to Congress in Assam as former state chief Ripun Bora quits party, joins TMC
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The Congress in Assam suffered another setback on Sunday with senior leader and former state unit chief Ripun Bora quitting the party and joining Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Bora, a former minister in the Assam cabinet and who was the Congress candidate for last month’s Rajya Sabha polls (which he lost), joined TMC in Kolkata in the presence of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Bora’s wife, Monika Bora, a former Congress MLA, and son Siddharth Bora, a member of Congress’s legal cell in Assam, were also present during the event.

“Extending a very warm welcome to Ripun Bora, a stalwart and skilled politician, who joined the TMC family today. We are extremely pleased to have you on board and look forward to working together for well-being of our people,” Banerjee tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Bora, forwarded a two-page letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi mentioning about his resignation from the party, with which he was associated since 1976, and the reasons that led him to take the move.

“During the past couple of years, the way BJP, the symbol of communal and divisive forces, is growing across the country and is a serious threat to democracy, constitution, secularism and economy of our country,” Bora mentioned in his letter.

“But instead of fighting unitedly and aggressively to prevent the BJP at this critical juncture…leaders of the grand old Congress party at different levels are fighting each other for their vested interests,” he added.

Commenting on the state of Congress in Assam, Bora claimed that there was “continuous infighting by a section of senior most leaders of Assam” unit of the party, which prevented it from getting the peoples’ mandate in the 2021 assembly polls.

Bora was the president of the state Congress during last year’s polls in which the party had tied up with nine other parties in a bid to wrest power from the BJP. But Congress managed to win just 29 of the total 126 seats leading to BJP and allies forming the government again.

“I am 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 a secret understanding with the BJP government, mainly with the Chief Minister (Himanta Biswa Sarma),” Bora said in his letter.

“Under this backdrop, my conscience doesn’t 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 interests of a few leaders,” he added.

The Congress in Assam has been facing trouble ever since last year’s assembly poll debacle. Two of the party’s MLAs have resigned and joined BJP while another is under suspension for openly supporting the BJP-led government.

In last month’s Rajya Sabha polls, Bora, who had the support of 26 Congress MLAs plus 17 votes from AIUDF, CPI(M) and Raijor Dal, failed to win despite having the numbers, due to cross voting by some opposition MLAs. This allowed BJP and its ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) to win both the vacant seats.

“Bora’s resignation is unprecedented and unfortunate. This has done damage to the party, but we will regroup and recover. Bora’s allegations that some Congress leaders in Assam are having secret understandings with BJP and the Chief Minister are baseless,” Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

“Instead, people in Assam know how CM Sarma recently mentioned that Bora is in regular touch with him and had called him four times ahead of the RS polls. Bora used to say that he will be a Congress worker till death, but today’s move showed that his integrity is doubtful and he is an opportunist,” he added.

In August last year, following the assembly poll loss, Sushmita Dev, chief of Congress’s national women’s wing and a former Lok Sabha MP from Assam, had quit the party and joined TMC. She is now a Rajya Sabha MP from TMC.

In November last year, senior Congress leader and former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, who was the leader of opposition in the assembly, quit the grand old party and joined the TMC along with 11 other MLAs.

“I don’t want to comment on internal issues of the Congress, but it is true that in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, it was cross voting by some Congress MLAs, which led to Ripun Bora’s defeat,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Bora’s resignation.


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