Was feeling suffocated, isolated in Congress: Pradyut Bordoloi after joining BJP

Two-time Lok Sabha member and former Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi defended his decision to join the BJP ahead of the Assam assembly elections, stating it was not an overnight choice. Bordoloi, who joined Congress at 16 and served as a three-term cabinet minister and four-time Assam MLA, said, 'I was feeling suffocated. I was feeling isolated.' He cited a lack of warmth from the party leadership and claimed he sent 20 messages to Congress general secretary K C Venugopal seeking a meeting but received no response. Bordoloi acknowledged he had criticized Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma just weeks earlier, calling him a 'fanatical reinvention of a politician' who damaged Assam's social fabric. However, he defended this contradiction, saying he could point out mistakes as a friend and well-wisher. On his ideological shift, Bordoloi admitted, 'I cannot be a revisionist overnight,' but expressed confidence in working with Sarma for Assam's progress.