Assam: AIUDF MLA Phanidhar Talukdar joins BJP

A day after the ouster of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) from the Congress-led Mahajot (grand alliance) of opposition parties, Phanidhar Talukdar has quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on September 1.

“I left AIUDF to work with the Chief Minister. There’s no issue with AIUDF, but I was hoping that they’ll be part of the government. People in my constituency are poor. How long will I be in opposition and how it is going to benefit people of my area? So I joined BJP,” Talukdar said, after officially parting with the minority-based party.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma welcomed the sitting MLA from Bhabanipur to the BJP and over a tweet, said, "The faith of leaders across political spectrum in Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to grow. Happy to have met honourable MLA of Bhabanipur Phanidhar Talukdar, who resigned from AIUDF and will join BJP later today. I welcome him in our Pariwaar."

Phanidhar quit the AIUDF on August 30 amid the tussle between Congress and the AIUDF camp in the grand alliance. The BJP on the other hand had refuted claims of embracing the AIUDF, teaming both the Congress and the AIUDF as part of the same organ and "having similar traits".

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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