Guwahati, March 19 Pradyut Bordoloi joined the BJP after "making significant sacrifices" and not with the expectation of receiving any "benefits", Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday, a day after the Congress MP was inducted into the ruling party.
The two-term MP from Nagaon was inducted into the BJP in the presence of Sarma and other leaders in the national capital ahead of the April 9 Assam Assembly polls and weeks after former state Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah switched over to the ruling party.
The BJP announced Bordoloi's candidature for the Assam polls from the Dispur assembly seat, where he is pitted against the Congress' state women's wing chief Mira Borthakur.
Speaking to reporters at the BJP state headquarters here, Sarma said that Bordoloi had more than three years left in his term as a Member of Parliament.
"I don't think the BJP has given him anything... He made significant sacrifices and did not join the BJP with the expectation of receiving any benefit," the Assam chief minister said. "He did not become an MP with our help."
Sarma said there was no confusion among the BJP workers in Dispur and added, "I will meet them today and ask them to extend all their help to Bordoloi."
All party functionaries in the constituency are happy, he asserted. "I am confident they will extend all help and support to Bordoloi. Besides, no one in the BJP will challenge a decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
Dispur has been represented by the BJP's Atul Bora for two terms since 2016. He also represented the seat as an Asom Gana Parishad candidate from 1985 to 1996 and served as a minister in Prafulla Kumar Mahanta's first ministry.
Sarma claimed on Wednesday that "no individual with self-respect can any longer stay in the Congress", with Bordoloi being the latest one to quit the party. Former state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah joined the BJP in February, while three other MLAs – Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, Sashi Kanta Das and Basant Das – who were suspended by the grand old party, crossed over this month.
"We want to bring Congress leaders, who are assets, to the BJP. The process started in 2016, and 99 per cent of it has been completed," Sarma said.
While joining the BJP, Bordoloi on Wednesday said that Chief Minister Sarma's vision to work for Assam and to take the state forward had drawn him to the saffron party. He had claimed that for the last two years, he had faced humiliation and was feeling isolated within the Congress.
Polling for 126 Assam assembly constituencies will be held on April 9, and counting of votes is slated for May 4.
