Congress sends message to Himanta Sarma, picks arch foe Gaurav Gogoi as Assam chief

The Congress also lost all the five seats in key Assembly by-elections held last year as well as had a dismal showing in the recent panchayat elections.

Apart from naming Gogoi as the PCC chief, the Congress appointed three working presidents – Sarukhetri MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar, former Sarupathar MLA Roselina Tirkey, and Abhayapuri South MLA Pradip Sarkar. While Sikdar is a Bengali-origin Muslim, Tirkey is a tea tribe leader and Sarkar is a Bengali Hindu – all representing key voting populations in the state.

The charge of the Campaign Committee in the state has been given to outgoing PCC chief Bhupen Kumar Borah, and the charge of the Coordination Committee to Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia. The Congress named Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi as its Manifesto Committee chairperson, and gave the charge of its Publicity Committee to Md Rakibul Hussain.

In a post on X, Gogoi, 41, thanked the Congress top leadership for the appointment. “It is a blessing to work with so many dedicated and inspiring senior leaders and workers in the Congress party in Assam. Their wisdom, experience and dedication to the party has taught me many things… Joi Ai Axom! Jai Hind!” he posted.

While Saikia and Bordoloi were seen as hopefuls for the PCC chief post, a senior Congress leader from Assam said a large section of the party pushed for Gogoi to take over the reins in Assam.

“There is a perception among workers and those opposed to the BJP that he can take on Sarma and the party… Only time will tell whether he will prove to be a skilled organiser,” a leader said. However, he admitted, there could be a flip side: “The crucial test for the party with this decision is how we counter the narrative that Sarma has been raking up about Gogoi’s family. Because the BJP will double down on this.”

Other Assam Congress leaders said the leadership change could boost the flagging morale in the party. “It’s true that the Congress is currently not in a good position and there is very little time for the elections. A lot of party workers are demoralised after the panchayat results, so they should get some oxygen to fight now,” a leader said.

Listing the positives in favour of Gogoi, another leader said: “One is his appeal to young voters, the other is that there is no stigma of corruption associated with him. Also, because of so many jumping ship over the years, people are suspicious about the loyalty and sincerity of many leaders. It’s something that the Chief Minister has weaponized, suggesting that this or that leader might actually be working in collusion with the BJP. But the people of Assam believe Gaurav will stick to the Congress and his anti-BJP position.”

A Congress leader from Assam told The Indian Express that the Assembly fight in Assam is set to become a one-on-one contest between the two arch rivals. “The politics in the state and next year’s campaign will be focused on Sarma vs Gogoi. Gogoi is quite influential in Upper Assam, which is a weak point for the Congress, while being crucial for Sarma and the BJP. Gogoi is quite popular personally and his elevation should help the party in the region,” said the leader.

Old foes

Sarma and Gogoi’s rivalry goes back to when the former was in the Congress and hoped to take over the party’s reins in the state. However, after Gaurav Gogoi actively entered politics under his father and Congress veteran Tarun Gogoi, and his profile began to rise in the party, Sarma made his exit, lashing out at “despotic family centric politics”.

Over the past few months, Sarma has accused Gogoi and his wife Elizabeth, who is of British origin, of links with the ISI. In February, he constituted an SIT to probe the matter. Gogoi has also accused Sarma and his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma of being involved in land grabbing and corruption in the state on several occasions.

The Congress’s Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gogoi is seen as much valued by the central leadership. In August 2023, he had led the Congress’s no-confidence motion against the Modi government.

Sarma’s attacks on him started not long after the 2024 Lok Sabha results when Gogoi won from Jorhat, defeating the sitting BJP MP by a huge margin of 1.44 lakh votes.

Sarma had gone out of his way to ensure the defeat of Gogoi, who was believed to be on a weak wicket in Jorhat, having shifted there from Kaliabor, his family’s pocket borough that he had represented twice in the past. After a delimitation exercise carried out in Assam as per the 2001 Census, ahead of the general elections, the Kaliabor constituency had been restructured significantly and renamed to Kaziranga.