3 months ago
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The melodramatic exit of erstwhile Assam Congress main Bhupen Kumar Borah has exposed heavy organisational faultlines successful the enactment hardly weeks earlier the Assembly elections, forcing the party’s cardinal enactment into a crisis-management mode.
Mr. Borah, a two-time legislator who headed the State portion from 2021 to 2025, announced his resignation citing “self-respect” and dissatisfaction with organisational decisions.
On Thursday (February 19, 2026), Lok Sabha subordinate and enactment wide caput Priyanka Gandhi Vadra volition seat meetings of the governmental affairs committee, predetermination committee and frontal organisations successful Guwahati.
Though her sojourn and meetings were pre-scheduled, Mr. Borah’s departure has lent a consciousness of urgency to code organisational issues.
Ms. Vadra, who heads the Congress sheet to shortlist imaginable candidates for the Assam Assembly elections, volition question to code organisational concerns and reappraisal preparations. The Assembly elections are expected to beryllium held by March-end and aboriginal April.
Senior Assam Congress leaders told The Hindu that the Borah occurrence was little astir an idiosyncratic grievance and much astir accumulated vexation implicit the party’s functioning successful the State.
“We could person hinted that Gaurav Gogoi would beryllium our main ministerial look and let Bhupen to proceed arsenic the Pradesh Congress Committee chief. Now, Gogoi hardly has immoderate clip to benignant retired the organisational issues,” a elder person from Assam said.
He said All India Congress Committee wide caput for Assam, Jitender Singh, should person been much proactive successful keeping the State portion together, describing the handling of the concern arsenic “inept and inconsistent”.
After the 2021 Assembly canvass loss, Mr. Singh had himself informed the Congress Working Committee that aggravated factionalism and the lack of a main ministerial look outgo the enactment the State elections.
While the assignment of Mr. Gogoi, an articulate younker person and three-term MP, gave the Congress a face, it has failed to incorporate factionalism.
Party insiders flagged the delays successful gathering a wide anti-BJP confederation arsenic a strategical misstep. Negotiations with imaginable partners person moved slowly, and determination is inactive nary clarity connected seat-sharing arrangements successful respective regions.
A fewer leaders pointed to a deficiency of consultation with elder State leaders connected cardinal organisational and electoral decisions. The lack of a coherent governmental communicative against the BJP authorities has besides been a recurring concern, with leaders admitting that the enactment has struggled to antagonistic the ruling dispensation’s extended payment outreach.
Ms. Vadra’s sojourn could beryllium used to reconstruct assurance wrong the State unit, incorporate the fallout from the Borah episode, expedite confederation talks and framework a crisp governmental communicative to instrumentality on the BJP.
