Assam Assembly Elections 2026 | Frequent exodus makes BJP the new Congress in state

The trend, in fact, started way back in 2015, when Himanta Biswa Sarma switched to BJP after leading the dissidents against the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Guwahati: Is BJP becoming a new Congress in Assam? This has become the buzz in the state politics given the frequent exodus of leaders including MPs and MLAs from the Opposition Congress to ruling BJP.

The trend, in fact, started way back in 2015, when Himanta Biswa Sarma switched to BJP after leading the dissidents against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

And the same has continued, particularly ahead of elections. This time, it was no different with two top Congress leaders, Bhupen Kumar Borah and Pradyut Bordoloi suddenly jumping the ship days ahead of the polls. Borah was the president of Assam unit of Congress till May last year while Bordoloi is a sitting Lok Sabha member from Nagaon and had served as a minister in Tarun Gogoi Cabinet more than once.

Days before, three MLAs, Kamalakshya Dey Purkayastha, Sasikanta Das and Basanta Das, who were suspended by Congress last year, too formally joined BJP on March 5. 

Congress leaders in BJP list

While such exodus ahead of every election since 2015 has become a worry in the Opposition camp, CM Sarma and BJP high command has accommodated his former Congress colleagues even as the same disappointed the old and prominent leaders in the party.

This became more glaring in the list of 88 candidates BJP released on Thursday for the Assembly elections slated on April 9. At least 21 former Congress leaders including 11 MLAs figured in the list while prominent leaders like Siddhartha Bhattacharya, former president of the BJP's Assam unit and a former minister, were dropped.

Bhattacharya, in fact, brought Sarma into BJP, a decision that led the saffron party wrest power from Tarun Gogoi-led government and formed its first government in Assam in 2016. Sarma became the CM in 2021, replacing Sarbananda Sonowal, who is now a Union Cabinet Minister.

On Friday, Sarma filed his nomination papers from Jalukbari in Guwahati seeking a mandate as MLA for the sixth consecutive term.  

Bordoloi, who joined BJP on Wednesday, was given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur Assembly seat (housing the state capital), the next day. In doing so, BJP denied the ticket to the sitting MLA, Atul Bora, who had quit switched from AGP years ago.

Kamalakhshya and Sashikanta have also been given tickets in Katigorah in Barak Valley in South Assam and Raha in central Assam, respectively. 

Apart from CM Sarma, some of the former Congress leaders who have been given tickets are: Ajanta Neog (finance minister), Pijush Hazarika (water resource minister), Jayanta Malla Baruah (tourism minister), Pallab Lochan Das (former MP), Tuliram Ronghang, Taranga Gogoi, Naba Kumar Doley, Diganta Kalita and Jitu Goswami.      

Jayanta Das, a Vajpayee-Advani era BJP leader, said he was promised the ticket for Dispur seat but Bordoloi's entry led the party to sideline him. "There is no respect and value left for those who sacrificed for BJP for decades," Das said while threatening to form a new party with the "neglected and sidelined" BJP leaders and contest the April 9 polls. "If Sarma has the guts, let him make Bordoloi win in Dispur." 

CM Sarma, however, said the party would convince those denied tickets and all would contest the polls together to form the government for the third straight term. Sarma, after Bodoloi's joining said that it was his target to get all "sanantani Hindus" from Congress into BJP, barring one (Tarum Gogoi's son and MP Gaurav), before the next Assembly polls in 2031. 

"We're gearing up for a civilisational war against the Bangladeshi infiltrators and so all Sanatanis must be together in one party." 

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi also recently admitted that practically it was not a fight against BJP, but against the former colleagues.  

BJP will contest in 89 of the total 126 Assembly seats and will support its allies, Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People's Front in the remaining seats. 

"CongJP: Conressification of BJP," Pradyut Bora, a former social media lead of BJP, who spearheaded India Shining campaign in Vajpayee's term, posted on social media after Bhupen Borah joined BJP last month.