Assam: Rupjyoti Kurmi, the MLA who slit his palms for Congress, joins BJP

GUWAHATI:
Four-time Congress legislator from Jorhat district, Rupjyoti Kurmi has officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), expressing discontentment with Congress for promoting older leaders and with Rahul Gandhi for not being able to deal with responsibilities aptly.

Kurmi's joining of BJP comes as a big hit for Congress as he was the only legislator of the party in the recent Assam elections to have contested and won in the tea tribe demographic. All other leaders had lost their seats, owing to a shift of the demographic's vote bank towards BJP.

"We welcome Sri Rupjyoti Kurmi to the BJP family. A prominent leader from the tea tribe Community and a four-term MLA, he has always been working to uplift the poor and develop the region," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.

With Kurmi’s resignation from Congress, the party's position has further weakened in upper Assam – historically dominated by the party during Tarun Gogoi’s tenure as the Chief Minister, with only four party MLA's remaining in the region now. 

Hinting at the possibility of more MLA's leaving the Congress, Kurmi had earlier said that the Congress "never paid attention" to his eligibility or considered the views of the younger members of the party.

In a previous interview with the media, Kurmi has been noted to have said, "I did a lot for Congress, even slit my palms … but these things have no value in Congress."

(Edited by Anirban Paul)

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