Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Tezpur Lok Sabha MP, Ram Prasad Sarmah formally joined the Congress in New Delhi on February 24th, 2020.

It may be mentioned, Time8 first broke the news on February 22nd, 2020. Sarmah will ceremonially join the Congress in Guwahati on March 1st, 2020.

Sarmah had resigned from the primary membership of the BJP in March 2019. In a Facebook post, the politician wrote that he felt insulted when his name did not find a place in the shortlisted panel of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. 

Earlier there were reports of the former BJP leader joining the Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United).

Sarmah has earlier said that the old BJP workers of Assam, who have been toiling for decades, are the most ‘neglected and ill-treated’ in the BJP by the ‘new intruders’ in the party. He served as the Lok Sabha MP from Tezpur constituency from 2014 to 2019.

It is believed that Sarmah’s entry into the party will help it strengthen its base among the Gorkha community ahead of the Assembly polls slated next year.

Photo credit: @ram.sarmah.7