Akhil Gogoi aims for Oppn alliance to defeat BJP in 2026 Assembly polls

Guwahati: Akhil Gogoi, a Sivasagar MLA and opposition leader, signalled on Tuesday that he will reunite with the Congress party in Assam to unseat the BJP in the 2026 Assembly elections.

Much before the Opposition INDIA group was formed ahead of this year's Lok Sabha elections in India, 15 opposition parties led by the Congress organised a United Opposition Forum in Assam to challenge the BJP.

The forum fought the Lok Sabha election in the state by thrashing out a seat-sharing pact. However, just before the bye-election in five Assembly constituencies in the state, the Congress broke the alliance by announcing candidates in all of the seats.

The bone of contention was the Behali seat where a CPI-M leader was supposed to contest representing the United Opposition Forum.

However, the Congress fielded a BJP turncoat Jayanta Bora in Behali that broke the alliance.

The CPI-M also fielded a candidate; however, the BJP defeated the Opposition candidates and secured a comfortable victory in the recently-concluded bypolls.

Meanwhile, Akhil Gogoi told reporters here, “To oust the BJP from power, all Opposition parties including the Congress must fight unitedly. This is the only way to defeat the ruling party in the next Assembly polls.”

The Sivasagar legislator also warned that the Congress party would put up a poor show if they decided to contest the Assembly polls alone.

“In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Congress got 26 seats but if they contest polls alone, they will hardly win 6 seats in the next polls,” he said.

Meanwhile, Assam Congress President Bhupen Borah said, “The Congress always favours fighting polls taking all regional forces together but Akhil Gogoi must stop criticising us. This is not a healthy sign for an alliance.”

The Congress drew a blank in the bypolls despite contesting all five seats that went for bye-elections.

The grand old party lost its bastion in the Samaguri Assembly constituency as Congress heavyweight and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain’s son Tanzil Hussain conceded defeat to the BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarmah.

Rakibul Hussain alleged that the BJP conducted wide-scale rigging in the bye-election in the Samaguri Assembly seat.

Hussain has been representing Samaguri in the Assembly since 2001 and he vacated this seat after winning Lok Sabha polls this year.

Rakibul Hussain said, “Votes were rigged in numerous polling booths under Samaguri Assembly constituency. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma used the administrative machinery to ensure the defeat of my son in the bye-election.”

Five Assembly seats in Assam — Dholai, Behali, Samaguri, Bongaigaon, and Sidli went to bypolls as the legislators in these seats were elected to the Lok Sabha in the General Elections this year.

With inputs from IANS