DIBRUGARH: Former Union minister and four-time BJP MP Rajen Gohain from Assam’s Nagaon parliamentary constituency resigned from the party along with 17 other members on Thursday, officials said.

In a letter to state BJP president Dilip Saikia, Gohain said he was resigning from the primary membership of the party and stepping down from all party responsibilities with immediate effect.

Seventeen other BJP members, mostly from Upper and Central Assam, also submitted their resignations to Saikia, sources said.

Speaking to PTI, Gohain said he resigned as the party had failed "to fulfil the promises made to the people of Assam and betrayed the indigenous communities by allowing outsiders to settle in the state."

He had represented Nagaon parliamentary constituency for four terms from 1999 to 2019 and had served as the Union minister of state for railways from 2016 to 2019.