Two Assam Congress MLAs to 'support' BJP govt

Guwahati: Two Congress MLAs Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Basanta Das on Wednesday announced their “support” for the BJP government.

Both the MLAs have met the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the ongoing budget session of the assembly and tendered their support for the ruling party.

Purkayastha, a three-time MLA, has also resigned from his post of working president of the opposition just before he went to meet Chief Minister. Basanta Das was a minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in Assam.

However, both the MLAs have said that they will not resign from the Congress but will support the BJP government despite being a primary member of the opposition party.

Not resigning from Congress, the MLAs have made sure to avoid the bi-elections in their constituencies.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that showing faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development politics, the two Congress MLAs have chosen to support the government.

“They will support both the central and state governments with all public welfare initiatives and beneficial projects,” the Chief Minister said.

He said that both MLAs will not join the BJP.

Earlier, two other Congress MLAs -- Sashi Kanta Das and Siddeque Ahmed also had extended their “support” to the government but have not resigned from Congress.