Guwahati, March 5 Three Congress MLAs – Kamalakhya De Purakayastha, Sashikanta Das, and Basanta Das – joined the ruling BJP in Assam on Thursday, along with two others, ahead of the assembly elections.
All of them were inducted into the party by state BJP president Dilip Saikia in the presence of Union minister Pabitra Margherita at a function here.
The two others who joined the BJP are former Congress joint secretary Parsha Bob Kalita and former Trinamool Congress general secretary Kangkan Nath.
This development comes shortly after former Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah joined the saffron party. Elections to the 126-member Assam assembly are likely to be held in April.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that for the last two years, the MLAs had been supporting his government in the legislative assembly, and "today, they have formally joined the party and I welcome them to the BJP".
Asked whether they would be given tickets in the upcoming assembly elections, Sarma said that the matter had not yet been discussed, but the party's state election committee "would now consider it".
"Their names will be on the list, but the Central Parliamentary Board will take the final decision regarding ticket allocation," he said.
Sarma said it had already been discussed with them that no one joins the BJP for election tickets, but at the same time "there is no obstacle in seeking the same and it will be given based on their prospects".
"They have unconditionally joined the BJP, and there is no distinction between new and old members... we are all the same within the party," the chief minister said.
He also said that the three MLAs had openly supported the BJP during the last Lok Sabha elections.
Purakayastha represents Karimganj (North), while Sashikanta and Basanta are sitting MLAs from the Raha and Mangaldoi (SC) constituencies, respectively.
The Congress has suffered a setback, with Borah joining the BJP on February 22, while two other MLAs Abdul Rashid Mondal and Sherman Ali Ahmed switched over to the Raijor Dal last month.
Both Mondal and Ahmed are three-time legislators from Goalpara (West) and Baghbar, respectively.
The opposition Congress has announced its first list of 42 seats, while the ruling BJP along with its allies – the AGP, BPF and UPPL – are yet to finalise seat-sharing arrangements.
The Congress is leading a part of the unified opposition alliance known as the ‘Asom Sonmilito Morcha’ to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left parties, but is yet to finalise it with the Raijor Dal.
In the 126-member Assam assembly, the opposition Congress has 26 members, AIUDF 15, while there is one from the CPI(M) and an independent MLA. The ruling NDA has 64 from the BJP, while its allies AGP has nine members, UPPL seven and the Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF) three MLAs.
