Guwahati, Oct. 27: The AGP lost yet another leader to the BJP with three-time MLA from Sootea constituency Padma Hazarika quitting the regional party today.

Hazarika walked into the AGP head-office at Ambari here this morning and submitted his resignation letter to party president Atul Bora and working president Keshab Mahanta.

Later, talking to The Telegraph over phone, Hazarika said he would join the BJP on October 30.

Hazarika's parting ways with the AGP is seen as a setback for the regional party ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls in the state as he is an influential leader who had always been vocal in the Assembly about the problems of the state.

Hazarika said he had taken the decision after consulting the people of his constituency.

"The people of Assam are looking for an alternative due to rampant misgovernance and corruption during 15 years of Congress rule in the state and the 2014 Lok Sabha poll results have established the BJP as the only viable alternative to the Congress," he said. "I am joining the BJP to oust the Congress from power in Assam in 2016," he said.

"But I would always remain grateful to the AGP since it's the party from which I started my political career," Hazarika added.

There had been indications that Hazarika would be leaving the AGP fold since he had met a few top BJP leaders, including the party's state president Siddhartha Bhattacharya, recently.

Reacting to his resignation, Atul Bora said Hazarika's decision was "unexpected" and only time would tell whether his decision was right or wrong. "What we have failed to understand is why he had taken the decision to join an anti-Assam national party," Bora said.

In the past couple of years, several prominent AGP leaders have joined the BJP, including former AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary and former ministers Hitendra Nath Goswami and Atul Bora (senior), former Speaker Pulakesh Barua, former AGP legislator from Titabor Hemanta Kalita, among others.

There had also been speculation that AGP MLA from Dhakuakhana Naba Kumar Doley may also join the BJP.

The rise of the BJP in Assam underlined the marginalisation of the AGP, which is in free fall since losing power in 2001.

The AGP, which had formed a government at Dispur twice, had failed to win a single seat in the last Lok Sabha polls and currently has only nine MLAs, including Hazarika, in the 126-member state Assembly.

In another development, former principal secretary of the Assembly, Gauranga Prasad Das, joined the BJP at a function organised at the party's state headquarters here today.

Das said he had joined the saffron party attracted by the "bold leadership" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Along with Das, over 200 of his supporters from Goalpara district also joined the BJP in the presence of senior party leaders, including state BJP vice-president Harekrishna Bharali and organisational general secretary Phanindra Nath Sarma.

Welcoming the new members, Sarma urged them to fully acquaint themselves with the party's ideology and dedicate themselves to strengthening it in the state.