Assam: Over 9,000 join Congress, including members from BJP ahead of polls

Guwahati: Nearly 9,500 members, including some from the ruling BJP, joined the Congress Party in Assam, said Assam Congress on Monday, in what they called a major push ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

The Congress organised joining programmes across all 35 districts, spanning western Assam’s Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, and Kamrup, central districts like Morigaon and Nagaon, and eastern regions including Jorhat, Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Dibrugarh.

North Assam districts such as Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, and Sonitpur also witnessed similar events.

Lok Sabha member and former minister Rakibul Hussain attended the joining programme in Dhubri, welcoming new members.

At Philobari in Tinsukia, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Gaurav Gogoi criticised the BJP-led government, alleging that citizens were suffering under coal, sand, and supari (betel nut) syndicates, illegal taxation, and lamented the poor condition of Assam’s tea industry.

In Guwahati, more than 100 individuals formally joined the Congress through the initiative of the Guwahati District Congress Committee.

The event saw the participation of Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia, former presidents Ripun Bora and Bhupen Bora, former MP Abdul Khaleque, and Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Barthakur.

The new members included lawyers, senior citizens, and former BJP officials.

Gaurav Gogoi stated that public dissatisfaction with the BJP-led government and the “autocratic style” of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma was driving the surge in Congress membership.

He announced that Congress had conducted similar joining programmes on September 10 and October 10, with another scheduled for December 10.

Responding to the mass joining, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma dismissed Gogoi’s statements, accusing him of “childish behaviour” and lacking political maturity.