Assam Cong chief Bhupen Borah meets Akhil Gogoi for talks on bypolls
Guwahati Aug 24 PTI Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah has met Raijor Dal supremo Akhil Gogoi to evaluate possibilities of jointly fighting the assembly bypolls likely to be held by the end of this year However the late-night deliberations at Sivasagar on Monday remained inconclusive and both parties vowed to carry forward the discussions in the coming days It was just a courtesy meeting as I am in his Gogois constituency for our party meetingwe both are against the BJPs divisive policies We discussed how we will fight the saffron camp in future Borah told reporters He appreciated Gogoi an Independent MLA from Sivasagar for joining hands with the Congress inside the Assembly to raise voice against the anti-people decisions of the state government Earlier we had tried to be united against the BJP and we will try again in future Borah said without elaborating On the other hand Gogoi said that the two anti-BJP parties should unite for a long term instead of a shorter period We discussed how to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and how to form a government in Assam after the 2026 Assembly elections We also evaluated options regarding the bypolls but nothing has been decided yet he said This was the second round of meetings between top leaders of the two parties On August 8 Congress working presidents Rana Goswami and Jakir Hussain Sikdar had visited the Raijor Dals headquarters in Guwahati to meet Gogoi and other senior leaders On August 16 another opposition party Assam Jatiya Parishads vice presidents Shamsher Singh and Kamal Nayan Choudhury had met Borah and discussed a proposal to put up common candidates against the BJP-led alliance in the Assembly bypolls AJP and Raijor Dal had formed a Regional Alliance which was not part of the Congress-led Grand Alliance in the assembly election this year The Raijor Dal won one seat while AJP drew a blank Before the assembly polls both the groupings had called for establishing a united platform of all opposition parties but the Regional Alliance had shied away from joining the Grand Alliance due to the presence of All India United Democratic Front AIUDF in it The Congress which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001 formed the Grand Alliance with AIUDF BPF CPIM CPI CPIML Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM RJD Adivasi National Party ANP and Jimochayan Deori Peoples Party JPP In the 126-member Assam Assembly the BJP bagged 60 seats while its allies AGP won nine and UPPL six In the opposition camp the Congress won 29 AIUDF 16 BPF four and CPIM cornered one seat Raijor Dal won one seat as an Independent As per the seat arrangements of assembly at present byelections will take place in five seats One MLA each of United Peoples Party Liberal UPPL and Bodoland Peoples Front BPF has died while two Congress legislators have resigned to join the BJP Former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who joined the Union Cabinet as a minister is yet to submit his resignation paper in the assembly but is likely to do so in the coming days PTI TR ACD ACD
Guwahati Aug 24 PTI Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah has met Raijor Dal supremo Akhil Gogoi to evaluate possibilities of jointly fighting the assembly bypolls likely to be held by the end of this year However the late-night deliberations at Sivasagar on Monday remained inconclusive and both parties vowed to carry forward the discussions in the coming days It was just a courtesy meeting as I am in his Gogois constituency for our party meetingwe both are against the BJPs divisive policies We discussed how we will fight the saffron camp in future Borah told reporters He appreciated Gogoi an Independent MLA from Sivasagar for joining hands with the Congress inside the Assembly to raise voice against the anti-people decisions of the state government Earlier we had tried to be united against the BJP and we will try again in future Borah said without elaborating On the other hand Gogoi said that the two anti-BJP parties should unite for a long term instead of a shorter period We discussed how to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and how to form a government in Assam after the 2026 Assembly elections We also evaluated options regarding the bypolls but nothing has been decided yet he said This was the second round of meetings between top leaders of the two parties On August 8 Congress working presidents Rana Goswami and Jakir Hussain Sikdar had visited the Raijor Dals headquarters in Guwahati to meet Gogoi and other senior leaders On August 16 another opposition party Assam Jatiya Parishads vice presidents Shamsher Singh and Kamal Nayan Choudhury had met Borah and discussed a proposal to put up common candidates against the BJP-led alliance in the Assembly bypolls AJP and Raijor Dal had formed a Regional Alliance which was not part of the Congress-led Grand Alliance in the assembly election this year The Raijor Dal won one seat while AJP drew a blank Before the assembly polls both the groupings had called for establishing a united platform of all opposition parties but the Regional Alliance had shied away from joining the Grand Alliance due to the presence of All India United Democratic Front AIUDF in it The Congress which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001 formed the Grand Alliance with AIUDF BPF CPIM CPI CPIML Anchalik Gana Morcha AGM RJD Adivasi National Party ANP and Jimochayan Deori Peoples Party JPP In the 126-member Assam Assembly the BJP bagged 60 seats while its allies AGP won nine and UPPL six In the opposition camp the Congress won 29 AIUDF 16 BPF four and CPIM cornered one seat Raijor Dal won one seat as an Independent As per the seat arrangements of assembly at present byelections will take place in five seats One MLA each of United Peoples Party Liberal UPPL and Bodoland Peoples Front BPF has died while two Congress legislators have resigned to join the BJP Former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who joined the Union Cabinet as a minister is yet to submit his resignation paper in the assembly but is likely to do so in the coming days PTI TR ACD ACD
