Congress says Pradyut Bordoloi’s exit ‘unfortunate’, accuses BJP of poaching its leaders

The resignation of Assam MP Pradyut Bordoloi from the Congress, who later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, was “unfortunate”, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, adding that differences over ticket allotment might have triggered his departure.

But while answering a question about the series of defections from the Congress to the BJP, he noted that “ideology is also important”.

“I think he was upset about the ticket allotment and I wish we had a chance to chat; it’s unfortunate,” Ms. Vadra, who heads the party’s screening committee for the Assam Assembly elections, told reporters at the Parliament complex.

Mr Bordoloi, who heads the Congress manifesto committee for the upcoming elections, left the party and joined the BJP late on Tuesday.

His exit comes weeks after former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah quit the Congress and joined the BJP.

Reactions from the Congress, which is dealing with a fresh setback in poll-bound Assam, ranged from anger at the “betrayal” to accusing the BJP of kidnapping its leaders.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore, in a post on

“A traitor who changes sides in the middle of the battlefield cannot escape the judgment of the people,” Mr. Tagore added.

Rajya Sabha MP and Congress Working Committee member Syed Naseer Hussain said the BJP had “stolen its leaders”.

“They don’t have their own people, they are articulate people. That’s why they are stealing our people,” Mr Hussain told reporters at the Parliament complex.