Assam: Ex-Congressman Gautam Roy Joins BJP Party

Guwahati, August 11, 2019:

Former Minister and longtime member of the Congress party, Gautam Roy, has joined the BJP party here today in the presence of party bigwigs Ranjeet Dass (party President) and Himanta Biswa Sarma (Finance Minister). Along with Roy, a prominent political figure in Barak valley of Assam, Santiuse Kujur, another top Congressman, also joined the BJP.

Roy's departure from the Congress will be seen as yet another blow to the grand old party which has seen many of its members defect to rivals BJP after losing the General Elections 2019 to their old rivals.

It is to be mentioned that Gautam Roy had quit the Congress on Thursday after months of speculation. Before the general elections, rumors were also being floated that he would contest from the Silchar Lok Sabha Constituency on a BJP ticket. Roy, along with general secretary Ramen Borthakur, was earlier suspended for anti-party activities, as it was alleged that they had been witnessed celebrating the BJP victory after the elections.

Prior to Roy's departure, another senior Congress leader, Bhubaneshwar Kalita, a former Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha, had resigned on August 5, 2019 over his alleged opposition to the party’s stand on the government’s decisions to scrap Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Kalita joined the BJP on August 9, 2019, in national capital New Delhi.

Earlier, Sanjay Singh, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, had also left the party, citing "zero leadership" in the party.

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