The Assam Congress on Monday saw the resignation of veteran MLA Bharat Chandra Narah, a move that will leave the party without a single MLA in north Assam.

Sources said Narah took the step as his wife Ranee Narah was denied a ticket to contest from the Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency on Saturday.

Ranee, a former MP and a Union minister of state in UPA 2, lost the ticket to Uday Shankar Hazarika, who quit the BJP to join the Congress last December.

Narah expressed his displeasure first by resigning as chairman of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC)’s media department before leaving for Delhi on Sunday.

He then resigned from the Congress with immediate effect in a one-line letter to party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday.

Hazarika has the backing of Assam PCC chief Bhupen Kumar Borah.

The Congress is contesting 13 of the 14 seats in Assam and has left a seat for ally Assam Jatiya Parishad. It holds three seats. The ruling BJP, with nine, wants to increase its tally with allies AGP and UPPL.

Narah is among many leaders to have resigned from the party or party post or have expressed support to the ruling BJP in the state, developments which have led the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to repeatedly claim that the electorate should not waste their votes on Congress in the Lok Sabha polls because more leaders from the party, including PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah, would soon be joining the BJP.

Since January 14, two Congress working presidents, MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkaystha and former MLA Rana Goswami have resigned from their posts. Goswami has also joined the BJP.