GUWAHATI:
Former BJP national executive member and the founding national convener of the party’s IT cell Pradyut Bora joined the Congress party during a programme at Rajiv Bhawan here on March 21.
Bora, who had floated a political party – Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2015 after he quit the BJP, also merged with the Congress party.
Bora had left the saffron party complaining about the “individualised and centralised” style of functioning of the party’s leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.
“Our decision to merge with the Congress now was prompted by the need for a unified opposition to take on the BJP. The kind of aggression the BJP shows across all institutions and places needs to be challenged,” Bora said.
“The idea of India articulated by our founding father needs to be saved. An overwhelming majority of those within the party felt that that’s a big fight which will be best fought from a larger platform,” Bora also said.
During its formation, the LDP had decided to fight against both the BJP and Congress.
However, the LDP has decided to work with Congress to work towards a united front against the saffron party and its alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“We feel that the more splintered we remain, the more difficult this fight becomes. If we have to keep the larger goal in mind, it is important to transcend personal and party ambitions. We are responding to the political realities,” Bora further said.
In the 2016 assembly poll, the LDP contested 14 seats but failed to win any. It did not contest the 2021 elections.
Welcoming Pradyut Bora and more than 100 of his workers of the party, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Kumar Bora said it would be a new dimension to the Congress with the joining of the LDP with them.
Speaking on the occasion, leader of the opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia said the Congress is the only party which can resolve all the fundamental issues of every community living in the country.
Former minister and MLA Rakibul Hussain, APCC working president Jakir Hussain Sikdar, MLA Nandita Das, former MP Bolin Kuli, and SAPMC president Meera Barthakur Goswami were also present at the function.