Assam Congress plans party revitalisation after assembly bypolls debacle

Assam Congress chief said a detailed discussion with senior party leaders will soon take place to find the reasons for the by poll loss

The Congress party won eight assembly and one Lok Sabha seat in the recently concluded by polls to 30 assembly and three Lok Sabha seats spread across the country. However, the party returned a blank in Assam, where all the five assembly seats contested went to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally the United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL). The state unit of the Congress is now planning to reorganise itself and review the reasons for the loss.

Borah, who was named the Congress’s state unit chief after the party’s loss in the assembly polls, said he didn’t have much time to reorganise the outfit. (Photo Courtesy-Twitter)

While candidates from the BJP and its ally UPPL won by huge margins ranging from 25,641 votes (Bhabanipur) and 57,059 (Tamulpur), Congress candidates, who came second on three seats, failed to garner enough votes. Congress was the only party to have fielded candidates on all five seats and had declared that it will win at least two seats.

Incidentally, two of the three winning BJP candidates, Rupjyoti Kurmi (Mariani) and Sushanta Borgohain (Thawra), had won on Congress tickets in May this year before they switching sides to the ruling party, barely months after the assembly polls.

“Just because we lost the bypolls, it doesn’t mean we will forget our role as opposition. We will continue to raise issues related to the people like price rise,” Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

Borah, who was named the Congress’s state unit chief after the party’s loss in the assembly polls, said he didn’t have much time to reorganise the outfit.

“I have been in office for just 100 days. Unlike earlier, when the entire state unit was reorganised after appointment of a new chief, we couldn’t do it this time due to the by polls. Since the b ypolls are now over, we will start forming our sub-committees immediately,” he said.

For the by polls, the Congress decided to break with nine other alliance partners including the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF).

“The results show that our decision to break away from the alliance was a good one. People know that even before a formal break up, BPF had announced parting of ways,” Borah tried to justify the decision.

“We will start preparations for 2024 general elections and 2026 assembly polls from now on. We will work day and night, and we have started a campaign to enlist 3.3 million members. A detailed discussion with senior party leaders will soon take place to find the reasons for the by poll loss,” he added.

Borah said the party would try to contest on its own on all 126 assembly seats in the state in future. He added that since Congress has an understanding with the Asom Jatiya Parishad, it will support the regional outfit in by poll to the Majuli assembly seat, scheduled later.

With Tuesday’s wins, BJP’s strength in the 126-member house has increased to 62 while ruling allies, UPPL and Asom Gana Parishad have 16 legislators each. Opposition Congress, which ruled Assam for three consecutive terms from 2001 to 2016, has 27 MLAs. AIUDF has 15, BPF has 3 while the CPM and the newly floated Raijor Das have 1 seat each.