Guwahati, Feb 16 (IANS): Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, a three-time MLA, who resigned as Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president and "extended" support to the BJP, has revealed that the grand-old party leader Rahul Gandhi "insulted" the party MLAs when he was in northeast during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
"When Congress went to forge an alliance with 15 parties in Assam, many of us resisted the decision because most of the parties do not have any strength on ground. Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi met Rahul Gandhi in Jorhat district and told him that Congress legislators remain mute spectators in the assembly which was not at all true. However, Gandhi scolded his own party legislators badly," Purkayastha said.
Purkayastha told IANS: "The leadership is the root cause of Congress' downfall. When Gandhi arrived in Dhubri during his yatra, he misbehaved with the party legislators on Gogoi's provocation. Gandhi threatened the party MLAs of suspension from the Congress. My fellow MLAs felt very much insulted at that time."
He also claimed, "Most of the Congress legislators in Assam are with the BJP government whether they openly admit the fact or not."
Two Congress MLAs -- Purkayastha and Basanta Das -- on Wednesday went to meet Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the ongoing budget session of the assembly and tendered their support to the ruling party.
Das was a minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in Assam.
However, both the legislators have announced that they are not resigning from the Congress party and will continue to support the BJP government in the state despite being a primary member of the opposition party.
The legislators chose this way of supporting the BJP to avoid by-elections in their constituencies.
Sarma said, "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."
He also mentioned that both the legislators are not joining the BJP.
Meanwhile, both Purkayastha and Das were slapped with show-cause notices for their open announcement of "supporting" the BJP.