GUWAHATI, July 26: Despite a change in leadership and an apparent attempt to reassess its strategy and regroup, the Assam Congress still faces the “threat of losing more legislators and members in the coming days.”
Of late, rumours are rife about two-time MLA from Thowra constituency, Sushanta Borgohain “likely to quit his post and party and join the ruling BJP in the coming days.”
Even as Borgohain has not officially stated anything in this regard, unconfirmed reports here state that the Congress MLA could resign from his post during the first week of August.
“Speculations regarding Sushanta Borgohain quitting Congress have been doing the rounds much earlier infact, and according to information received, he is likely to resign from the party in the first week of August,” Suresh Varma, an Upper Assam-based political analyst told The Shillong Times on Monday.
Notably, Borgohain had defeated BJP candidate Kushal Duwari in the Assembly election earlier this year to reclaim the Thowra seat in Upper Assam for the second time.
Congress currently has 28 MLAs in the Assam Legislative Assembly.
Only a few weeks back last month, four-time Mariani MLA, Rupjyoti Kurmi resigned from the Congress to join the BJP subsequently at a programme attended by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The development came as a big blow to the “beleaguered” Congress which has already been defeated in the Assembly polls. More so because Kurmi was the lone representative of the tea garden community in the state Congress amid the declining authority of the party in Upper Assam, once a strong bastion.
Kurmi had alleged that young leaders had no place in the party, a factor that might have prompted the All India Congress party to appoint two relatively younger MLAs, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Jakir Hussain Sikdar as working presidents in the state Congress committee.
“Now, with the by-polls scheduled in at least four constituencies or more (if more sitting MLAs resign), the signs are ominous for the grand old party despite a change in leadership last week,” Varma said.
“There could be one more senior Congress MLA following suit even as things are not clear at the moment,” he said.
Newly appointed Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president, Bhupen Kumar Borah, however hoped that the Thowra MLA would stay in the party. “I believe that Sushanta, with whom I share a close relationship, will not leave the party,” Borah said.