Big Blow to Congress Ahead of Assam Assembly Polls as Former APCC President Bhupen Kumar Borah Resigns

New Delhi: In a significant political development ahead of key electoral battles in Assam, former Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupen Kumar Borah has removed “Congress” from his X bio, triggering speculation about his exit from the party.

According to reports, Borah has submitted his resignation to current APCC president Gaurav Gogoi and sent a three-page letter to the Congress high command expressing his unwillingness to continue with the party. His reported decision comes in the backdrop of explosive allegations made by the Assam government regarding Gogoi’s and his wife’s alleged links to Pakistan.

However, there has been no official confirmation so far from the Congress party regarding Borah’s resignation.

Borah, a two-term MLA from the Bihpuria constituency, had been at the forefront of the Congress’s organisational efforts in Assam in recent years. His reported departure, if confirmed, could mark a significant setback for the party’s state unit as it prepares for upcoming elections.

Top sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party have remained tight-lipped over the development. However, they did not rule out the possibility of Borah joining the party.

What's the case about?

The development comes amid an escalating political confrontation between the ruling BJP government in Assam and Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has made explosive allegations linking Gogoi and his British wife, Elizabeth Coleburn, to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and claims that Coleburn had ties to the ISI while she was working in Islamabad and was employed by Tauqeer Sheikh, a former adviser to Pakistan’s Planning Commission.

The state government formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter and registered a case. Sarma alleged that Coleburn visited Pakistan nine times while working with two Indian organisations and that Gogoi accompanied her on some of those visits. He also detailed that she worked in Pakistan from March 18, 2011, to March 17, 2012, and claimed that her family had close ties with Sheikh.

Gogoi calls claims baseless

Gogoi has strongly denied the allegations and accused the Chief Minister of failing to provide any evidence. Addressing a press conference, he said, “Yesterday, in the 2.5 hour long press conference, the Chief Minister could not produce any evidence which could prove that I am an agent of another country.”

He further stated that the SIT report had been with the Chief Minister for the past six months. “Last year, he said he would release the SIT report to the public on September 10. If this concerns national security, our only question is why the Chief Minister was silent for the past six months,” Gogoi said.

CM doubles down, cites Taxila detail

Even as Gogoi dismissed the charges, Sarma doubled down on his allegations. Referring to Gogoi’s remarks during a press conference, Sarma said a key detail had emerged.

‘Gaurav Gogoi made a disclosure that even I was not previously aware of. Takshashila, also known as Taxila, is not located in Islamabad but in Rawalpindi District, Punjab. This single fact raises a serious and unavoidable question,” Sarma wrote.

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