Assam Assembly Elections 2026: DK Shivakumar, Tejasvi Surya enter campaign battle for Congress, BJP

BJP has set the target to form the government for the third term with Himanta Biswa Sarma at the helm.

Guwahati: Politicians from Karnataka are set to sweat it out both for BJP and Congress in Assam to win the Assembly elections, scheduled on April 9.

After Congress appointed Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar as a central observer for Assam polls, the BJP rushed Tejasvi Surya, the young MP from Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat to counter the narratives for the ruling party in Assam.

"There is a strong wind in favour of a change," Shivakumar recently said in Assam while highlighting the model of development in Congress-ruled Karnataka. Congress leaders in Assam too promised that a new model of development, like the one in Karnataka, would be implemented by Gaurav Gogoi-led Opposition, after being elected to power.

Congress government led by Tarun Gogoi was in power for 15 years in Assam till 2016, when BJP formed its first government with Sarbananda Sonowal as the Chief Minister. However, BJP replaced Sonowal with Himanta Biswa Sarma in 2021.

BJP has set the target to form the government for the third term with Sarma at the helm while Congress appointed Gaurav, Tarun Gogoi's son, to lead the challenge of bringing the Opposition party back to power.

A Congress leader in Assam told DH that AICC brought in Shivakumar to Assam as he is often compared with Himanta, who had led the dissidents against Tarun Gogoi and later switched to BJP in 2015 and wrested power from Congress.

"By making Shivakumar an important part of our battle in Assam, the party wants to highlight the commitment of a Congressman. Despite having differences with the Chief Minister and his senior colleague, Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar has not betrayed Congress and stood firm. The second reason behind engaging Shivakumar is to highlight the development success story of Karnataka under Congress," he said.

Surya, who addressed a meeting of BJP's young leaders at the grassroots level, which was also attended by Home Minister Amit Shah in Guwahati on Sunday, highlighted Himanta Biswa Sarma's fight against "infiltrators."

He also accused the Congress government in Karnataka of giving "protection" to the infiltrators from neighbouring Bangladesh, who had illegally crossed the borders with Assam and Bengal before reaching places like Bengaluru. In a series of social media posts, Surya highlighted Sarma's eviction drive targeting the Bengali-speaking Muslims and the efforts to push investments and create employment.

Both Shivakumar and Surya will attend several campaign meetings in Assam in the run up to the polls for 126 Assembly.