Former Rajya Sabha MP from Assam Bhubaneswar Kalita joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on August 9th, 2019. He had resigned from the Upper House of the parliament – Rajya Sabha and Congress August 5th, 2019 expressing his dissatisfaction at party’s stand on the Article 370 that gave special status to the Jammu and Kashmir.
Kalita, while expressing his support for the nationalism after joining the saffron party, said, “The nation is moving forward and getting stronger under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.” He further said that he could not support the BJP government’s move on Article 370 since he was in Congress. “So, I decided to resign from the Rajya Sabha and the Congress. I would like to join the revolution of development of the country,” Kalita said.
Kalita after resigning from the party said that the party’s stand on Article 370 was ‘against the mood and emotions of the nation’. In a statement, Kalita had said, “The Congress has asked me to issue a whip on the Kashmir issue. But the truth is that the mood of the nation has completely changed and this whip is against the public sentiment across the country. It seems the Congress is committing suicide with this ideology and I don’t want to be part of this. I will not follow the whip and I resign. Today’s Congress party leadership is trying to destroy the Congress. I believe nothing can stop the party from being ruined.”
It may be mentioned that on July 30th, 2019, senior congress leader Sanjay Singh, who represented in the Rajya Sabha from Assam, had resigned from the upper house and quit the Congress and joined the saffron party. With Kalita’s resignation, the Congress’ strength has come down to 46 in the 245-member house.
Guwahati | First Published: Aug 9, 2019 08:22:26 IST
