Assam Assembly bypolls: Partners call Congress 'traitor' as it refuses to share seats

Guwahati: Congress' refusal to share a ticket for one out of five Assam Assembly seats going for bypolls next month pushed a forum of the Opposition parties into a disarray.

Lurinjyoti Gogoi, secretary of the Congress-led Asom Sanmilito Morcha, a forum of 18 Opposition parties, on Thursday called Congress a "traitor" hours after the grand old party named former BJP leader, Jayanta Bora, as its candidate for the Behali Assembly constituency.

The forum had sought the Behali ticket for CPI-ML, one of the partners. Congress had earlier announced candidates for four seats, Bongaigaon, Sidli, Samaguri and Dhalai but a stalemate prevailed over Behali.

As the AICC refused to support the CPI-ML candidate for Behali, president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Bhupen Kumar Borah on Wednesday resigned from his post of the forum's president citing "tremendous pressure."

Talking to reporters on Thursday, Borah, however, urged the partners to have some patience while Gogoi said Congress' behaviour was that of a "traitor" as the forum contested the Lok Sabha polls together and planned to do so in the 2026 Assembly elections with a target to unseat BJP.

The development is significant as the forum contested the Lok Sabha polls together and was planning to contest the Assembly elections in 2026 in a seat sharing arrangement.

In Lok Sabha polls, Congress candidates won in three out of 14 Lok Sabha seats. The forum supported Lurinjyoti, chief of Asom Jatiya Parishad, a regional party, in the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat, where he lost against union minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Many within the forum said Congress leaders, Gaurav Gogoi, Pradyot Bordoloi and Rakibul Hussain won in the Lok Sabha seats because of support extended by partners of the opposition forum.

Bypolls for the five Assembly constituencies are scheduled on November 13. The seats fell vacant after the MLAs representing the constituencies were elected to the Lok Sabha.

In 2021 Assembly elections, BJP and its partners AGP and UPPL had won in Behali, Dhalai, Bongaigaon and Sidli while senior Congress leader Rakibul Hussain was elected from Samaguri for the fourth time. Hussain's son, Tanzil has been fielded in Samaguri for the by-polls.

Reacting to the development, Akhil Gogoi, chief of Raijor Dal, another regional party and a partner of the forum, said, "Bhupen Borah was in favour of sharing the Behali ticket. But all these happened because of the power-hungry nature of Gaurav Gogoi."

Gaurav, Lok Sabha member from Jorhat in Assam, attended a function in which Jayanta Borah formally joined Congress on Thursday.

Future of the forum

Lurinjyoti, however, told reporters that the forum would continue even without Congress. "The CPI-ML will announce the candidate for Behali while the forum will discuss and decide our stand regarding the four other seats."

Sources within Congress told DH that the party wants to "test the waters" about voters' mood in the by-polls and then decide about an alliance for the 2026 polls.