Assam MP and former journalist Abdul Khaleque on Friday resigned from the primary membership of Congress after the party declined to field him again from the Barpeta parliamentary constituency.
In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, he said Congress attracted him 25 years ago because of its ideologies and the “selfless sacrifice” of its leaders leading to the country’s independence.
“…I performed the assigned duties with whole-hearted responsibilities… I owe infinite gratitude and love to the people of my constituencies, the party, and the party workers who stood by me,” Mr. Khaleque wrote.
But he said he was pained by the party deviating from people-centric issues of late.
“To safeguard democracy, the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and oneness. But unfortunately, over a period of time, I feel that the attitude and approach taken by the party’s State president and AICC general secretary in charge has ruined the prospect of the party in Assam,” he wrote.
The situation compelled him to step out of the party fold, he added. “Therefore, I am tendering my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress with immediate effect,” he said.
Mr. Khaleque, whose ancestral village was removed from the Barpeta constituency and added to the adjoining Dhubri constituency after the delimitation exercise in 2023, wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Dhubri.
The Congress, however, nominated former Assam Minister Rakibul Hussain for the Dhubri constituency.
The Dhubri seat is held by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, the chief of the minority-based All India United Democratic Front.
The Congress retained the two other MPs from Assam – Pradyut Bordoloi from Nagaon and Gaurav Gogoi from Jorhat after the Kaliabor seat he represented in 2019 ceased to exist after delimitation.
