Mangaldai, Mar 7:In a major setback to the Darrang district committee of Indian National Congress, more than one hundred leaders and members of the party joined the saffron party on Thursday ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress leaders who have turned saffron included Anita Rajbongshi, the president of the women wing of the district congress committee and an outgoing elected president of an Anchalik Panchayat; district general secretaries Lutfur Rahman and Nur Islam, respectively; member of the APCC, Anjan Deka; veteran leader and an ex member of the APCC, Suren Baruah; president of the Mangaldai town block Congress, Rakesh Baruah; and others.
All the leaders and members are known to be strong followers of Basanta Das, the Congress MLA from Mangaldai. Basanta Das has already declared that he will support Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma without resigning from the party.
Apart from the Congress leaders and members, a section of former ULFA activists, ex-servicemen, and members of the BPPF have also turned saffron.
In this connection, a joining meeting was organised at the office of the Darrang district BJP, where Dilip Saikia, MP, Mangaldai Lok Sabha and the candidate of the saffron party in the Darrang-Udalguri parliamentary constituency for upcoming elections welcomed them to the party and urged them to work unitedly under the advice of the experienced party leaders to re-elect Narendra Modi as the prime minister in the upcoming general elections of the country.
Sipajhar Legislator Dr. Paramananda Rajbongshi, former Mangaldai MLA Gurujyoti Das, BJP's district president Amarendra Sarma were also present on the occasion.
