Why Pradyut Bordoloi flew away from the Congress nest
India Today
Pradyut Bordoloi was a dyed-in-the-wool Congressi who vowed to never leave the party. The physical attack on him in 2025, and the Congress embracing "communal elements" pushed the Lok Sabha MP into joining the BJP. Bordoloi's exit from the Congress after three decades is significant for the party and Assam's politics.
"Congressis like me can never leave the party. It's impossible for us to imagine politics beyond the Congress," I remember Pradyut Bordoloi telling a group of journalists from Assam at a meeting in New Delhi's Press Club in 2016. Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently quit the Congress to join the BJP in 2015, and amid the flurry of exits that followed, the dyed-in-the-wool Congressman was reiterating his allegiance to the party. But the "never" just happened.
On Wednesday, Pradyut Bordoloi joined the BJP and was welcomed by Central BJP leaders like JP Nadda and Himanta, the Chief Minister of Assam.
Late on Tuesday night, as the news of Pradyut Bordoloi, the Congress MP from Assam's Nagaon, broke, I called up multiple sources to confirm the news. Such was the surprise of Bordoloi leaving the Congress, a party he was associated with for three decades. The element of surprise was there despite seeing how Bordoloi went through "insults and humiliation" in recent years. We will come back to that later after discussing why his exit from the Congress is significant and reeks of a party in disarray.
Bordoloi's departure from the party will leave just two Congress MPs — Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain — from Assam in the Lok Sabha now. The Congress tally would go down to 98. His exit comes close to Bhupen Bora, a former state Congress President, joining the BJP.
Bordoloi's exit is bad press symbolically too.
In a party that has seen dynasts, Pradyut Bordoloi was a first-generation politician who climbed up the political ladder. A four-time MLA from Margherita in Upper Assam and a two-time MP from Nogaon, Bordoloi held powerful departments in the government of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
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