The Congress in Assam, said to be rudderless after the death of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, could lose a few of its MLAs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon.
There are reports that at least three Congress legislators, one of them expelled for six years for “anti-party activities”, are likely to don saffron when Union Home Minister Amit Shah visits the State towards the end of December.
The speculations were triggered by one of the troika of MLAs, former minister Ajanta Neog’s meeting with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday. Another MLA, Roselina Tirkey, was seen at a BJP function in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district a few days ago.
Ms. Neog represents the Golaghat Assembly constituency while Ms. Tirkey was elected from Sarupathar. The third MLA, Rajdeep Goala, represents southern Assam’s Lakhipur Assembly constituency and was expelled by the Congress in October.
“Such theories are flying around. But this implies the BJP has no trust in its own leaders and try to poach from other parties to be in power,” Congress spokesperson Bobbeeta Sarma said.
The name of a fourth legislator, Sushanta Borgohain, has been doing the rounds too. However, the Thowrah MLA released a video saying he would not be leaving the Congress.
Soon after the 2016 Assembly elections, the Congress had lost its Baithalangso MLA Mansing Rongpi. He quit the Congress and won the seat again on a BJP ticket.
The Congress MLAs in discussion are from the tea-growing belts of Assam. The BJP is believed to have weaned the plantation workers, a major vote bank, from the Congress.