Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 6 : Former Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on his erstwhile party, saying the Congress was now “reaping what it had sown” after suffering a crushing defeat in the Assam Assembly elections.
Borah, who switched from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls, won the Bihpuria Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket.
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Addressing reporters on Wednesday, he credited chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the BJP’s sweeping electoral success and said the people had endorsed the government’s development agenda.
“I must admit that under the leadership of Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam has witnessed unprecedented political success. The people have once again placed their faith in his leadership,” Borah said.
The BJP leader said the mandate in Bihpuria reflected public approval of the work carried out by the BJP government and rejected the Congress’ campaign narrative.
“The people have proved that the BJP’s organisational strength and development politics were genuine. Congress tried to shape a different narrative, but the voters rejected it,” he added.
Borah also took aim at Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, alleging that the party had weakened significantly under his leadership.
He claimed that Congress lost support in several of its traditional strongholds and failed to retain the momentum it had gained during the Lok Sabha elections.
“When I was Assam Congress president, the party had won the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes. But now even that support base has weakened,” Borah claimed.
The former Congress leader further alleged that internal divisions and “remote-controlled politics” had damaged the party in Assam.
He also suggested that the Congress may eventually be forced to appoint a minority community leader as the Leader of the party in the state, saying the party’s remaining elected legislators were largely from minority-dominated constituencies.
The BJP-led NDA returned to power in Assam with a massive mandate, securing a comfortable majority in the 126-member Assembly.
