by Sudip Sharma Chowdhury

Guwahati: The Congress, which ruled the state for 15 years, is facing more than one challenge. After the death of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, two senior leaders left the party and joined the BJP, the Congress has lost the dignity of the opposition party in the Assam assembly. Congress Legislature party leader Devrata Saikia has lost the status of leader of opposition in the 126-member Assam assembly. An official notification issued said that the Assembly has withdrawn the status from Mr. Saikia as the present strength of the Congress is less than the required number of 21 MLAs. Shri Saikia represents the Nazira constituency in Eastern Assam. “The present strength of the Indian National Congress Legislature Party, the Assam Legislative Assembly, is not equal to the quorum prescribed for the sitting of the House, which is necessarily one-sixth of the total number of members of the House… Chairman, Assam Legislative Assembly, has been pleased to withdraw the recognition of MLA, Devvrat Saikia, as leader of the Opposition with the 1st January, 2021.

In the 2016 assembly elections, the Congress won 26 seats and the BJP had won 60 seats. Six months later, Baithlangso MLA Mansing Rongpi left the Congress and was re-elected on the BJP ticket. In 2019, after winning the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat as a Congress candidate, Jania MLA Abdul Khalek resigned. Rafikul Islam of All India United Democratic Front wins victory in the bye-election. Between February and November 2020, Congress ‘ Sibsagar MLA Pranav Kumar Gogoi and former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who represented The Titab, passed away. In December 2020, two Congress MLAs – Ajanta Neug (Golaghat) and Rajdeep Goala (Lakhipur) – left the BJP.