Guwahati, Oct 29, 2024, IANS

Guwahati, Oct 29 (IANS) The opposition unity in Assam suffered a jolt after the Congress decided to field its candidate in the Behali Assembly segment for the upcoming bypoll. However, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi has kept options open for realignment with other regional parties after the by-election. Congress has fielded BJP turncoat Jayanta Borah from the Behali Assembly seat which was earlier decided to be given to CPI-ML, a constituent of the United Opposition Forum in the state led by the grand old party itself. This caused significant tension in the opposition camp following which Assam Congress Chief Bhupen Borah resigned as the president of the United Opposition Forum. Congress fielded candidate on the Behali seat on the insistence of Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi who has been spearheading the poll campaign there. The United Opposition Forum has warned that they can take on the BJP without Congress and CPI-ML has already fielded a candidate in Behali to pose a challenge to the Congress and the ruling party. The chief of regional party Raijor Dal, Akhil Gogoi, criticised Gaurav Gogoi and said, “The opposition unity faced a tumultuous situation due to Congress MP. If the party wins by-election in Behali, it will raise Gaurav Gogoi’s ego and this thing should not happen. That is why we have fielded a candidate in Behali from the opposition camp.” Meanwhile, Gaurav Gogoi did not attack the Raijor Dal leader and kept the options open for realignment before the 2026 Assembly elections. He said on Tuesday, “Once the bypoll gets over, we will sit with the opposition leaders and we will have a detailed discussion on everything. As of now, our focus is to defeat the BJP in Behali.” Gogoi alleged that the people of Behali are upset with the BJP as for getting benefits of government schemes, one must enroll into party membership of the ruling party and this time voters have decided to bring a change in this constituency. Notably, Behali Assembly seat was held by senior BJP leader Ranjit Dutta in the Assembly for a long time. The bypoll was necessitated after Ranjit Dutta was elected MP in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.