Guwahati:
Ten days after former Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief Ripun Bora quit the Grand-Old Party and joined the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), several senior leaders from the Congress and other parties joined the Mamta Banerjee-led party at an induction function held at Rukmininagar Bihu Field in Guwahati, on April 27.
About 57 senior and youth leaders, workers and supporters from other political parties jumped the ship and joined the Trinamool at the induction ceremony on Wednesday. Among them were the secretary, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee Gojendra Prasad Upamanyu, secretary, APCC Diganta Bhusan Barman, secretary, APCC Babul Sonowal, spokesperson APCC Bandip Dutta, ex-minister, AGP Rajendra Musahary and general secretary All Assam Bengali Youth Federation, Deepak Das, among others.
A slew of top AITC leaders also attended the induction programme including former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma, Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra and newly appointed Assam TMC president Ripun Bora.
“This is a very important day to lay a strong foundation for the AITC, to ensure that we work for the people of the state and protect the interest of the people,” said Meghalaya TMC chief, Mukul.
Mukul further added that, except for the AITC, there is not a single party in the Assam that can give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a befitting reply. “The absence of a proper opposition has created a vacuum in the state, and it’s AITC which will fill up that void,” the former Meghalaya chief minister said.
Exuding confidence that, just like in Bengal and other states, the AITC will wage a war against the BJP in Assam as well, AITC legislator Moitra said, “Just as we have won the hearts of people in Bengal, we will do the same in Assam. There is a big void in the opposition and seeing the fact that BJP has come to power with only 36 per cent of the vote in the last general elections, AITC will capitalise on it.”