ASSAM Congress chief Bhupen Borah has resigned as president of the unity alliance formed by the Opposition for the 2026 Assembly elections in the state, amid strained ties between the party and its regional allies over the Behali seat bypoll. Behali is one of the five Assembly seats in Assam for which bypolls will be conducted on November 13. The Congress has already announced its candidates for four of these seats, with Behali still stuck even as the last date to file nominations, October 25, approaches swiftly. The Congress’s allies in the 16-member Opposition front called the Assam Sonmilito Morcha wanted a joint candidate, a nominee from the CPI(ML). However, the Congress high command did not agree. On Thursday morning, the Congress announced its own candidate, Jayanta Bora, from the Behali seat. The Assam Sonmilito Morcha comprises parties opposed to the BJP, including state units of national parties as well as regional outfits. Borah sent in his resignation to the general secretary of the Morcha, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, on Tuesday, citing his inability to “execute” the decision taken by the forum. The Assam Sonmilito Morcha had met in Guwahati on October 18, in the presence of AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, following which a five-member committee was formed to decide the candidate from Behali. The committee – which included Raijor Dal leader and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi; Independent Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan; Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who belongs to the Asom Jatiya Parishad; the CPI(M)’s Suprakash Talukdar; and the All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference’s Jones Ingti Kathar – recommended that the CPI(ML) contest from the seat, and that the candidate be CPI(ML) state secretary Bibek Das. In his resignation letter, Borah wrote: “I have been trying to persuade the 5 member committee to re-consider its recommendation, but they have refused to do so and are demanding immediate confirmation from the AICC. Under the tremendous pressure on me to make the decision enforced, which I am not able to execute, I have no alternative other than tendering my resignation as President of the opposition unity in Assam.” Borah did not respond to calls and messages from The Indian Express. According to a senior Congress leader, the party high command objected to Das’s candidature as he has contested several Assembly elections from Behali unsuccessfully. On Wednesday, the CPI(ML) proposed another name as the joint Opposition candidate in a letter to Lurinjyoti Gogoi. Das, meanwhile, told The Indian Express: “I am ready to withdraw if there is any controversy over me. We are fighting because we want to save the country and the Constitution and to defeat the BJP. Me contesting the elections is not bigger than that.” However, this move appears to have not solved the deadlock. Taking on the Congress openly Wednesday, Lurinjyoti Gogoi told the media that the alliance partners have been “patient” despite the Congress’s “autocratic behaviour”. “If they want to defeat the BJP unitedly in 2026, our decision will have to be considered reasonably. Ego and arrogance should not come up… They told us that the CPI(ML) candidate should be changed. Because unity is the most important thing, we accepted this… but we didn’t get any answer. Maybe they are testing our patience. Because we are with the people and we want the alliance to be intact, we are still waiting… Have we said that such and such candidate of the Congress does not have merit? One does not have the right to behave autocratically after calling others autocratic,” he said. Even a section of the Assam Congress have expressed their frustration with the party high command. A Congress leader said: “The AICC in-charge had questioned why a person who has lost repeatedly from the seat should be projected. So the committee was asked to reconsider. But they said once again that they think this (Das) is the best candidate for the seat. Then Bhupen Borah also got upset and tried to convince (them). They warned that the alliance may break if we are too adamant… (Now) when the name of the candidate has been changed… a gentlemanly agreement was made, (and) it should be honoured.” Indicating a gap between the high command and the state unit, the leader added: “The state Congress is serious about the Opposition alliance.” In the meantime, the BJP candidate from Behali, Diganta Ghatowar, filed his nomination papers on Wednesday. The BJP’s Ranjit Dutta had won from Behali in the 2021 Assembly elections, retaining the seat with a 50.93% vote share. Independent candidate Jayanta Bora had come second while Das had come third. The seat became vacant after Dutta was elected from Sonitpur in the Lok Sabha elections this year.
