Assam: 4-time BJP MP Rajen Gohain quits party along with 17 others

New Delhi: In a shock for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, senior leader and former Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain resigned from the party on Thursday. Along with him 17 other members of the party resigned.

According to a report in the Indian Express, the 74-year-old former Assam BJP president and four-time Nagaon MP submitted his resignation at the state headquarters of the party in Guwahati. He was accompanied by 17 other party members, all of whom also put in their resignations at the party headquarters.

Also Read

Bizarre: Four men try to cremate mannequin to fake employee’s death for Rs 50 lakh insurance payout

Cyclone Ditwah tracker: Latest path, landfall timing and areas likely to receive heavy rain

Haryana crime: Man kills mother and her alleged lover of 15 years, takes bodies to police station in pick-up vehicle

Gohain had been a part of the BJP for almost 3 decades now. He was a prominent face of the party's old guard in Assam, which had revolted against the emergence of the new leaders under the current Assam CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sarma had joined the BJP from the Congress in 2015. The party was clearly divided into 2 camps, one of the old guard and the other of new joinees and younger leaders.

The Sarma camp includes leaders like Jayanta Malla Baruah, Pijush Hazarika and Ajanta Neog, who are also part of the state Cabinet.

Gohain remained an MP from Nagaon from 1999 to 2019. He was inducted as a Minister of State in the PM Narendra Modi cabinet in 2019. He served as the Union Minister of State for Railways. He made it clear that the biggest reason for his resignation was the rift within the party's 2 camps. In 2019 he did not get a ticket from Nagaon and he even did not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Both times the seat went to the Congress Party.