Guwahati, Oct 23 (PTI) Cracks seemed to have appeared in the 16-party opposition alliance in Assam over the selection of the candidate for the Behali seat where bypoll is scheduled next month with Congress state president Bhupen Kumar Borah resigning as the head of the bloc.
Borah tendered his resignation, expressing “tremendous pressure” after the Congress high command refused to accept Asom Sonmilito Morcha (ASOM) nominee Bibek Das of CPI(ML) Liberation.
As per understanding among the ASOM constituents, four of the five seats going to the bypolls will be contested by the Congress, and Behali was left for the bloc, which formed a five-member committee that decided to give it to CPI(ML) Liberation.
However, a section of local Congress leaders in the Biswanath district opposed the decision and wanted to have their own candidate. They were pitching for Dilip Kumar Baruah and Premlal Ganju in the seat.
In the meantime, senior BJP leader Jayanta Bora resigned from the ruling party after being denied a ticket in Behali, and sources claimed that he would join the Congress if he was promised nomination.
Multiple Congress leaders told PTI that party MP Gaurav Gogoi was in favour of giving the Behali ticket to Bora.
Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, was in Behali on Wednesday and met several prominent persons and local party leaders.
The ASOM leadership, meanwhile, gave Congress a deadline of 10 am on Wednesday to clarify its stand as the last date for filing nominations is Friday.
“Please do not test our patience. We too have self-respect. We need to stay united till the 2026 assembly elections in order to defeat the BJP. We are waiting for a response, but you (Congress) cannot disrespect the united mandate of all opposition parties,” ASOM general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said.
On this backdrop, Borah, who was also the president of ASOM, resigned from the post.
“…till now the recommendation of the 5-member committee has not been accepted by the Hon’ble AICC i/c GS,” Borah said in his resignation letter addressed to the ASOM general secretary.
He mentioned in the letter that the five-member committee has refused to re-consider CPI(ML) Liberation’s candidate and demanded immediate confirmation from the All India Congress Committee (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 said in the letter.
Bypolls will take place in Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri assembly constituencies as these seats fell vacant with their MLAs winning the Lok Sabha elections.
In a letter to Borah on Tuesday night, Congress general secretary Jitendra Singh, who is in charge of Assam, said he should speak to the members of ASOM to jointly field a “strong candidate” in the upcoming by-election.
He stated that Das of CPI(ML) had contested assembly polls several times from Behali and was defeated each time, losing his deposits on many occasions.
“While most of the alliance partners agreed that the CPI(ML) candidate was weak, I don’t know why the executive committee of ASOM could not impress on its members to take a judicious decision on merit,” Singh told Borah.
At present, the state leadership of the Congress has left it to the central committee to take a final call on the seat, sources said, adding that the party is likely to announce its own candidate by Thursday.
The last date for filing nominations in the five seats is October 25. The papers will be scrutinised on October 28, while October 30 is the last date for the withdrawal of nomination.
The polling will take place on November 13 and the votes will be counted on November 23. PTI TR TR SOM
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