In a massive blow to the Congress party, Senior Assam Congress leader Bhubaneswar Kalita on Monday resigned as a member the Rajya Sabha.

The reason behind his resignation is yet to be known. His close friend and a family member said that he was very disillusioned both with the present political scenario as well as the party.

Kalita is a former APCC president and chief whip of Congress party in Rajya Sabha. He lost recent Lok Sabah election and since then he was keeping a low profile and not mingling with the party members.

His resignation came as a shock to all especially Congress leaders. Mr Kalita was a five-time Rajya Sabha MP and almost his entire political base was in New Delhi with very limited ground-level politics.

Along with Kalita, SP member Sanjay Seth also tendered his resignation. RS chairman, M Venkaiah Naidu accepted their resignation.

It may be mentioned here that a few days ago, another Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Sanjay Singh had resigned from the Congress and the Upper House.

(More details awaited)