GUWAHATI:
In a major jolt to the state Congress, former president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), Ripun Bora, joined the Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in Kolkata, on Sunday.
The former Rajya Sabha MP was inducted into the AITC by the party’s general secretary, Abhisekh Banerjee, in presence of former Silchar legislator, Sushmita Dev, and Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien.
Earlier in the day, Bora had tendered his resignation to All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi via an email alleging that he was compelled to leave the party following internal bickering among senior party leaders and some of them being in nexus with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the chief minister.
“I am very 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 has been maintaining secret understanding with BJP Govt mainly with the Chief Minister (sic),’’ read Ripun’s email.
Expressing happiness at Bora joining the AITC, Banerjee, in a tweet, said, “Extending a very warm welcome to Ripun Bora, a stalwart and skilled politician, who joined the AITC official family today. We are extremely pleased to have you on board and look forward to working together for the well-being of our people! (sic).”
Calling the move unexpected and unfortunate, his former colleague and the incumbent president of APCC, Bhupen Bora, said, “It’s not a joining. He needs accommodation. At present, the Congress party can’t give him accommodation.”
Reacting to Ripun’s allegations, Bhupen said that the chief minister had claimed in the Assembly that Ripun had sought Himanta Biswa Sarma’s help to win the Rajya Sabha election. “We had asked him to challenge the chief minister’s statement publicly, but Ripun did not do it. Now, who will believe that other Congress leaders are in nexus with the BJP. He should have asked the chief minister, instead he is accusing us,” Bhupen said.
The current president of the APCC also asked Ripun to disclose the names of the leaders he has made allegations against. “He should make it public who are the Congress leaders who have a relationship with the chief minister. He did not resign on policy or moral grounds from the Congress. The move has exposed his power-centric politics,” said Bhupen, questioning the former Congressman’s integrity.
Rajesh Joshi, general secretary of APCC, however, termed the development as “expected”. “This was expected. There is nothing to be surprised about,” said Joshi, soon after Bora joined the AITC.
Bora, in his resignation, however, slammed the BJP for their “divisive” and “communal” politics and called it a “serious threat to India’s democracy”. Blaming the Congress for not waging a war against the saffron party in Assam, Bora wrote, “Instead of fighting unitedly and aggressively to prevent BJP at this critical juncture of the country, leaders of this Grand Old Party, at different levels, are fighting each other for their vested interests. This has given BJP ample advantages to grow in every nook and corner, demoralising millions of Congress workers of the country.”
Highlighting how he strived to unify the Congress against these “communal forces”, Bora said that continuous infighting in the party has led to its downfall. “But due to continuous infighting among a section of senior-most leaders of Assam PCC, the people lost faith in us and did not give the mandate to form the government in 2021,” he wrote.
He, however, vowed to keep fighting against the BJP. “In the coming days, I shall continue my fight more vigorously against BJP, to protect the democracy, secularism and constitution of our country,” he said.