Stalwart of the Indian National Congress (INC) in Assam’s Barak Valley Gautam Roy on Sunday formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Guwahati.
He was also joined by former Rajya Sabha member Santiuse Kujur and former president of Youth Congress Hiranya Bhuyan.
Also read: Assam Congress loses two more leaders
The three senior Congress leaders joined the saffron brigade at the BJP state headquarters in Guwahati on Sunday in presence of Convenor of North Eastern Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and state BJP president Ranjit Das.
Notably, both former Rajya Sabha MP Santiuse Kujur and suspended leader and ex-minister Gautam Roy resigned from the grand old party on Saturday.
Former president of the Youth Congress Bhuyan had resigned from the Congress earlier on Sunday.
It seems that the wave of senior Congress leaders deserting the party and joining the BJP has started with senior veteran Congress leaders and former Rajya Sabha MPs Bhubaneswar Kalita and Sanjay Singh.
Also read: Joining BJP is Bhubaneswar Kalita’s new political dream
Kalita and Singh and earlier left the Congress and even forfeited their Rajya Sabha seats to join the saffron brigade.
Murmurs are also doing the rounds that two other senior Congress leaders, Bharat Narah and Rani Narah are joining the BJP along with Tanka bahadur Rai.
Notably, Kujur, whose stint as a Rajya Sabha member ended in June this year, has cited ‘personal’ reason for quitting the party.
Roy, an influential Congress leader of the Barak Valley, was suspended from the party in June this year, for his alleged anti-party activities.
On the other hand, Bhuyan had unsuccessfully contested the 2016 Assembly elections against Brindaban Goswami of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
After the ceremonial welcome of the former Congress leaders into the BJP fold, the state president Ranjit Das said that all the leaders have pledged by the principles and ideals of the party while joining.