Former BJP MLA and veteran lawyer Arun Chandra Bhowmik, who was expelled from the ruling party in November last year for anti-party activities, joined the Congress on Thursday.

At an election rally, Bhowmik was welcomed into the Congress fold by state party President and INDIA bloc candidate for West Tripura Lok Sabha seat Ashish Kumar Saha, Congress Working Committee member Sudip Roy Barman and former PCC president and advocate Pijush Kanti Biswas.

Bhowmik, who was elected from Belonia in the 2018 Assembly polls on a BJP ticket, was denied re-nomination by the party in the last year’s assembly polls.

"I was in Congress for several decades since 1977 and held various important posts. There is no discipline in the BJP party,” the lawyer-turned-politician told the media and criticised both former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and incumbent Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha.

77-year-old Bhowmik, who is a designated senior advocate at the Tripura High Court, was a leader of the Congress party and its legal cell for years before shifting to the BJP in 2017.

He contested from the Belonia assembly constituency (in South Tripura) in the 2018 assembly poll on a BJP ticket and won the seat defeating his CPI(M) opponent Basudeb Majumder.