Over 9,500 new members, including some from BJP, join Congress in Assam ahead of 2026 assembly polls
Guwahati: In a significant political development ahead of next year’s Assam Assembly elections, over 9,500 members, including several from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have reportedly joined the Congress across the state.
The joining programmes were organised simultaneously across all 35 districts of Assam. They were held from Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon and Kamrup in western Assam, to Morigaon and Nagaon in central Assam, and further east in Jorhat, Sivasagar, Charaideo and Dibrugarh. Similar programmes were conducted in the northern districts of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur, Deccan Herald reported on Tuesday.
In Dhubri, the joining event was attended by Lok Sabha MP and former minister Rakibul Hussain. Addressing a similar function in Philobari, Tinsukia district, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gaurav Gogoi launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led state government, alleging that the people of Assam were being “crushed under coal syndicates, sand syndicates, supari (betel nut) syndicates and illegal tax.” Gogoi also criticised the government for neglecting the state’s tea industry, a key sector in Assam’s economy.
In Guwahati, more than 100 individuals, including lawyers from the Gauhati High Court, senior citizens, and members who had held key posts in the saffron party, formally joined the Congress under the initiative of the Guwahati District Congress Committee.
Gogoi claimed that growing discontent with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s “autocratic style of governance” had led to an increasing number of people joining the Congress. "Keeping this mind, we organised joining programmes on September 10, October 10 and November 10. We will organise similar joining programme on December 10 also," he said.
Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Sarma dismissed Gogoi’s remarks, calling them “childish” and accusing the Congress leader of lacking political maturity.
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Bengal MLA Humayun Kabir floats new party days after laying foundation for Babri-style mosque
Beldanga (WB), Dec 22 (PTI): West Bengal MLA Humayun Kabir on Monday floated a new outfit, Janata Unnayan Party, days after he was suspended by the TMC for laying the foundation stone for a Babri-style mosque in Murshidabad district.
Addressing a public meeting in Beladanga, Kabir named eight candidates that his new party will field in the 2026 assembly elections in the state.
Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur, said he would contest the assembly polls from two seats, Rejinagar and Beldanga in Murshidabad.
"We can only tell you later how many seats we will be finally contesting," he told the gathering.
Kabir said his mission is to oust Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from power in the assembly polls, which will be due in less than six months.
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"Mamata Banerjee is no longer the same person I knew. She is beyond the reach of the common man," he alleged.
The BJP alleged Kabir was working to help the TMC return to power.
"Kabir will not be a factor in the next assembly polls. He will face the drubbing of the electorate along with his old friend TMC, with which he is still in touch in a clandestine manner. Both Kabir and his new party will be rejected by the people of Bengal," state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya claimed.
He claimed Kabir was attempting to split "BJP votes" in the assembly polls.
"In the wake of the situation in Bangladesh, people of Bengal will thwart Kabir's attempts and elect a strong nationalist force like the BJP, only which can defeat fundamentalists," he claimed.
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The TMC is yet to comment on Kabir's new party.
The TMC had suspended Kabir on December 4 after his announcement to build a Babri-style mosque triggered a massive row.
On December 6, the day the Babri Masjid was razed in Ayodhya in 1992, a defiant Kabir laid the foundation stone for the mosque at Rejinagar.
Kabir has had a tryst with most of the major political parties in the state over the last 10 years.
In 2015, he was "expelled" by the TMC for six years for criticising the CM and alleging that she was trying to make her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, the "king".
He contested the 2016 assembly elections as an Independent from the Rejinagar seat, but lost to Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury. He subsequently joined the Congress, which then had a huge presence in the district, but switched to the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP fielded him as its candidate in the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat, and managed to secure the third spot after the TMC and Congress nominees. He then returned to the TMC and, in 2021, became the MLA of Bharatpur.
