New Delhi: Will the Congress falter even before the run-up to the Assam Assembly elections?Earlier on Sunday, the Congress Party in Assam faced its biggest setback yet, as former state president Bhupen Bora formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party headquarters, Vajpayee Bhawan. While the defection of a state president is a seismic event in itself, the real weight of the moment for Congress lies in its similarity to the events of 2015.It seems that “ghosts” Events of the past have come back to haunt the Grand Old Party as the country gears up for the 2026 House of Representatives elections.
Former Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora will join BJP, confirms Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
Ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections, Himana left the Congress after the party high command projected Tarun Gogoi’s son as the face of the Congress leadership in Assam despite Sarma’s key role in running the party’s 2011 election campaign and helping it win an unprecedented 79 seats in the 126-member Assembly.Recalling the event, Sarma recently claimed that Sonia had effectively cleared his name as Prime Minister – only for a phone call from Rahul Gandhi to change everything.“my lady (
Sonia Gandhi
(, which I still refer to as such, asked me to specify the date and I told her that I would be taking the oath the day after the Ambubachi Mela at Kamakhya Temple in June 2014).
“The situation changed after Rahul Gandhi made the calls,” Sarma added.
Deja vuHistory has repeated itself in Bora’s case. After his resignation, Congress leaders approached the long-faced Borra but failed. All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge Jitendra Singh said that Borah had “withdrew” his resignation after discussions with the party leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, and that the resignation had not been accepted.However, Bora claimed that Rahul called him “but did not say a single word” about his resignation letter.“He mentioned how we helped the party grow, and he helped me over the years, which is true, but he did not say a single word about my resignation letter,” Bora told news agency PTI.
“I told Rahul Gandhi that I feel humiliated in the party, and then he said that he also feels humiliated. What is the value of my humiliation? I cannot bear such humiliation because I do not have much ability,” he added.During this time, the Assam Chief Minister declared that the BJP’s doors were open for Bora and promised that he would help him win a “safe seat” in the Assembly elections.Why did Bora cut ties with Congress?Several flashpoints contributed to the growing bitterness between Bora and the Congress. In his letter to Kharge, Bora listed his grievances against Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain.After his resignation from the party, Bora launched an attack on a section of the Congress leadership without mentioning names. He said he was ready to remain in the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) but not in the “APCC(R)” in an apparent reference to Hussain.“The prevailing perception in Assam is that the party’s state unit is being steered under the influence of Rakpaul Hussain, a leadership arrangement that has not resonated with a large section of the majority community in upper Assam. His apparent connivance with Shri Jitendra Singh has pushed the party towards disaster, pushed it to the brink of disaster and ominously led it towards political ruin.”
“Politics, ultimately, is as much about perception as principles, and when trust between key constituencies is eroded, the consequences are neither trivial nor fleeting,” the letter said.Bora also accused Gogoi of marginalizing him in the party’s decision-making process.“I can withstand personal setbacks, but self-respect and dignity are not currencies that can be traded.
I find myself not being consulted on substantive matters relating to the party and not being given the respect that befits a senior colleague. “I express these thoughts not in a spirit of malice, but in genuine confusion as to why I was marginalized by Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain,” the letter read.He later claimed that Gogoi broke the opposition alliance he had created a few years ago, fearing that if the opposition came to power “by chance”, he might not become prime minister.“When I was given the responsibility of taking the alliance forward again on February 9, what was the point of including Dhubri MP Rakbul Hossain in the talks?” he asked.“Gogoi may have felt that if the alliance was formed, Bhupen Bora would amicably place everything in front of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, threatening his existence,” he added.Bora, who was the president of the ‘Assam Sanmilita Mancha’ – a front of 16 opposition parties – also claimed that ahead of the by-elections to five assembly constituencies in 2024, it was decided that a CPI(ML) candidate would contest from the Bhali seat as the outfit had polled 40,000 votes in the previous election.“I agreed to it, but my proposal was not considered by the AICC committee. Two or three state unit leaders also started discussing other names. Finally, a person was named as the Congress candidate, who was not even a member of the party until then,” he said.
He added: “Then the leaders of the other coalition parties told me that if you cannot leave even one seat out of the five, what is left to discuss for the 126 seats in the upcoming elections? Then I resigned from the presidency of the coalition for moral reasons, and the Congress candidate lost badly.”Bora also said that Congress’ state in-charge Jitendra Singh chaired a meeting with six leaders on February 9, where he was given the responsibility of taking the alliance talks ahead of the Assembly elections.“I accepted it because it was the party’s decision. I also felt that the alliance was necessary because Congress cannot handle the BJP alone. I saw the necessity of uniting the anti-BJP voices,” he said.He added that the next day, Gogoi told him that Rakbul Hossain would actively participate in the talks.“I told him that this was not the decision taken in the meeting. Meanwhile, Nagaon Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi called me and said that if Rakibul was there, he would not tolerate this,” Bora claimed.“Amid this, Gaurav publicly said that I am spreading misinformation about the leadership of the talks. I have already spoken to leaders of other parties, including Akhil Gogoi,” he added.“Congress separates from Hindu community”Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Assam
Himanta Biswa Sarma
He claimed that Bora’s resignation represented a “separation” of the Congress from the Hindu community, and described him as the last recognized Hindu leader in the state unit.“Bhupen Bora was the last recognized Hindu leader of the Congress party,” Sarma said.Sarma asserted that more Congress leaders would switch to the BJP and claimed that disillusioned Muslim leaders might join the Raijor Dal.“The BJP will have the Raijor Dal and not the Congress as its opposition in the 2031 Assembly elections,” he claimed.Comparing his own journey, Sarma said Borra’s resignation reflects deeper issues within the Congress.He said, “His resignation carries a symbolic message that in the Congress, no one from an ordinary family can prosper. The Congress does not give recognition to people from ordinary families. I come from an ordinary middle-class family, and the BJP has appointed me as Prime Minister.”Congress marred by infighting?Assam is not the only state where the Congress is facing internal divisions.In Karnataka state, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar showed public tension.
In Odisha, Muhammad Muqeem resigned, citing organizational issues.
During the Bihar Assembly elections, cracks re-emerged within the Congress unit in the state. The rebel leaders protested after being denied tickets. The party ultimately emerged as the weakest link in its coalition, recording the lowest strike rate among the major partners.Bora now joins a growing list of leaders who have exited the Congress after clashes with the top leadership or state-level rivalries, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jitin Prasada, all of whom left the party to join rivals.In the run-up to the state’s Lok Sabha elections, the Congress finds itself at a crossroads, as it tries to grapple not just with the BJP, but also with the familiar internal frictions that have historically hampered its momentum.
