Congress appoints Gaurav Gogoi as president of Assam unit ahead of 2026 polls

The Congress also appointed three new Working Presidents - Jakir Hussain Sikdar, Roselina Tirkey and Pradip Sarkar - to its Assam unit.

New Delhi: With just a year left for elections in the state, Congress on Monday brought in its Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi as Assam party chief in a reshuffle that saw three young leaders also being appointed Working Presidents.

The appointment of Gogoi, the son of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, signals Congress’ aggressive approach in the run up to the polls, at a time Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is seeking to put the Congress leader on the backfoot by accusing him of having links with Pakistan.

The 42-year-old Gogoi, who is also a member of the Congress Working Committee, replaces Bhupen Kumar Borah, who has been appointed the chairperson of Campaign Committee. With this, Congress has indicated that Gogoi will be the party's unofficial face, though other leaders have not conceded their claim to him.

Besides Gogoi, the Congress leadership has chosen two-term MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar (44), sitting MLA Pradip Sarkar (42) and AICC Secretary and former MLA Roselina Tirkey (43) as Working Presidents, in what is seen as an attempt to give a youthful rigour to its state leadership.

At the same time, it has also retained experienced seniors on important election-related committees. As Borah will head the Campaign Committee, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia will head Coordination Committee, Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bardoloi will chair Manifesto Committee and Lok Sabha member Rakibul Hussain will be chairperson of Publicity Committee.

Former Assam Congress president Ripun Bora, who returned to the party after a brief stay in Trinamool Congress, was appointed chairperson of Election Management Committee. The announcement on his appointment was made separately.

The task is cut out for the junior Gogoi as the Congress is out of power in the north-eastern state for the past 10 years. The BJP had broken Congress’ hegemony in the state where it was in power for 15 years from 2001 with Sarbananda Sonowal-led saffron party defeating Tarun Gogoi-led Congress.

In the past couple of months, Sarma had targeted the junior Gogoi, alleging that the latter visited Pakistan and his foreigner wife had worked in the neighbouring country. Gogoi had described the allegations as Sarma's "desperation after finding that the political scenario was changing fast to his disadvantage".

Congress sources had earlier said that Sarma's attacks were “pre-emptive strikes” to target a potential rival in state politics. Sarma, who was considered a close aide of Tarun Gogoi, had quit Congress as he felt that the Congress veteran was grooming his son for the top post in the state.