A day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that former state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah will join the BJP on February 22, 2026, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Gaurav Gogoi dismissed the move as politically insignificant and sought to minimise its impact on the party’s prospects for the 2026 Assembly polls. Speaking at a press conference in Guwahati on February 18, 2026, Gogoi argued that leaders who defected to the BJP in the past had become marginalised and predicted Borah would follow the same trajectory.
Gogoi framed the upcoming election as a contest between the “real Congress and the old Congress,” alleging the BJP is populated by former Congress leaders. He accused those leaders of being responsible for corruption during the party’s previous 15-year rule in the state and said their presence had hollowed out the BJP’s claim to fresh leadership. “The BJP is full of old Congress leaders who were most corrupt during the 15-year Congress rule in the state,” he said.
Responding to Sarma’s comment that Borah was the “last Hindu leader” in the Congress, Gogoi hit back sharply. “The Chief Minister is Assam’s Jinnah. He should stop giving Hindu certificates to politicians,” he said, urging voters to focus on issues rather than religious labels.
Downplaying the fallout from Borah’s exit, Gogoi stressed organisational continuity. “The Congress is like an ocean; we are all just water drops in it,” he said, adding that the party predates the current generation of leaders and that Borah’s departure would not dent the Congress’s electoral prospects.
Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia echoed that view, stressing party identity over individual departures and warning that every vote mattered as the party prepares for a close contest.
Earlier on February 16, 2026, Borah had submitted his resignation to the Congress high command, and he told interviewers that he believed the state unit was no longer effectively under Gogoi’s control. “Gaurav Gogoi is just the face of the Assam Congress now. Rakibul Hussain is the sole base of the party,” Borah said, pointing to Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain’s large victory margin as evidence of where the party’s organisational strength lies. Borah also said Rahul Gandhi called him after the resignation but did not address the resignation itself: “Rahul Gandhi spoke at length about the relationship we shared since 2007 and how we helped the party grow. But he did not say a word about my resignation letter,” he claimed.
Chief Minister Sarma announced on the evening of February 17, 2026, that he had met Borah and that the latter would formally join the BJP on February 22. The exchange of accusations underscores internal tensions within the Congress as it heads into the 2026 Assembly elections, while the BJP frames Borah’s expected induction as a political gain. With inputs from PTI.
Original Source: https://assamtribune.com/assam/assam-congress-plays-down-defection-borah-attacks-gaurav-gogois-leadership-1607897
Category: Assam,Featured
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Publish Date: 2026-02-18 13:56:00
