Former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah, who resigned from the party on February 16, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday.

“After reflection, I join the BJP unit in Assam with renewed purpose,” Borah wrote in a social media post. “Assam’s legacy deserves development with dignity and inclusion. I step forward with humility and resolve to serve the state and the people.”

Assam is expected to head for the Assembly elections in April or May.

Borah had submitted his resignation to the Congress leadership on Monday. Following this, senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, had tried to convince him to change his decision. The former Assam Congress chief had sought time till Tuesday to reconsider his exit, but eventually maintained his decision.

Borah claimed on Tuesday that decision-making in the Assam Congress had been concentrated in the hands of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain.

On the same day, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Borah will join the BJP on February 22. He added that the Hindutva party will field Borah in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

After being inducted into the BJP on Sunday, Borah said that any “self-respecting Assamese” would not stay with the Congress, reported The Hindu.

“The Congress has 700 ticket aspirants and 100 of them will be able to contest the Assembly elections,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “The remaining 600 may not come to the BJP, but the self-respecting Assamese of Rajiv Bhawan will come to Vajpayee Bhawan.”

While Rajiv Bhawan is the state Congress’ headquarters, Vajpayee Bhawan is the BJP office in Guwahati.

On the other hand, Debabrata Saikia, the leader of Opposition in Assam, said that Borah’s switch to the BJP “will not cause any harm” to the Congress, reported ANI.

“Because the leaders and workers of his constituency, from where he had been preparing to contest for the last three years, did not decide to go with him,” the Congress leader said. “They said that even if he leaves, we will remain in Congress.”

In his resignation letter, Borah had claimed that he had been ignored by the party leadership, and that he was concerned about the party’s future.

Borah was the president of the Congress’ Assam unit between 2021 and 2025. He was replaced by Gaurav Gogoi in June.

Borah had been tasked, just days earlier, with taking forward talks for a proposed alliance against the BJP, involving parties such as the Raijor Dol, the Asom Jatiyo Parishad, the All Party Hill Leaders Conference, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).