Former bureaucrat Gauranga Prasad Das joins BJP
BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Oct 27: Asom Ga Parishad strongman and Sootea MLA Padma Hazarika resigned from the primary membership of the party on Tuesday. Hazarika is scheduled to join the BJP at a public ceremony in his home constituency on October 30. Padma Hazarika’s exit from the AGP is being seen as a major blow by the BJP to the regiol camp, after it jolted the Congress with Himanta Biswa Sarma crossing over, and nine more MLAs in his camp ready to follow suit soon. Padma Hazarika joined the AGP in 1995 and since then had held many important posts in the party.
The three times MLA from Sootea went to the AGP head office in Ambari on Tuesday morning, along with some close aides for the last time and submitted his resigtion to party president Atul Bora.
Talking to the media after meeting Bora, Hazarika said, “I am emotiolly broken today. It is a sad moment for me that I’m leaving the party where I had been for the last 20 years. But it is the call of the hour and the demand of the situation. Though I am joining a tiol political party, I assure the people of Assam that I’ll never give up my regiolist ideology.”
When asked if he had any grouse against the party leadership, Hazarika said, “Today I just came to tender my resigtion. So as for now, I would prefer not to talk about it.”
On a question related to AGP-BJP alliance for the Assembly elections, Hazarika said, “I persolly want that to happen. I had even told State BJP president Siddhartha Bhattacharya that AGP and BJP should go together in the upcoming Assembly elections. In order to bring an end to the Congress misrule, AGP and BJP should join hands,” adding, “If I get a chance, I’ll try to make it happen.”
Meanwhile, retired bureaucrat Gauranga Prasad Das, who was the Principal Secretary of Assam Legislative Assembly, joined the BJP on Tuesday along with hundreds of supporters at the BJP State headquarters in Hengerabari. Talking to the media after joining the BJP, Das said, “I will try to make the BJP stronger.”
The State BJP gave Das a warm welcome. The joining programme was attended by senior vice president of State BJP Harekrish Bharali and many other leaders of the party.