Congress leadership change in Assam; Rahul Gandhi-aide Bhupen Bora appointed APCC chief

The Congress High Command appointed Rahul Gandhi's close aide Bhupen Bora as the president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday. Bhupen's appointment as APCC chief comes two months after Ripun Bora resigned from the post, taking responsibility for the party's debacle in the recent Assembly polls.

The Assam Congress leadership underwent a reshuffle on Saturday, appointing three working presidents - Rana Goswami, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, and Jakir Hussain Sikdar. Both Purkayastha and Sikdar are MLAs. After handing over the new responsibilities, Ripun Bora and Rana Goswami have been relieved of their current posts of AICC secretaries.

Owning responsibility for the party’s poor show in the assembly election, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ripun Bora had resigned from his post on May 2. The Congress leader had lost from the Gohpur seat to BJP’s Utpal Borah by a margin of over 29,000 votes.

The 2021 Assam Assembly election saw the incumbent BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retaining power with 75 seats, which marks the first time a non-INC alliance has won consecutive terms in the state. The Mahajot led by INC managed to bag 50 seats, increasing its tally from 26 in 2016.

Manipur Congress in shambles

The change of guard in the Assam Congress comes just days after Manipur Congress president Govindas Konthoujam stepped down from his post as a result of internal turmoil in the party. A former Minister, Konthoujam is a 6-time MLA from the Bishnupur constituency and was the Chief Whip of Congress in the state Assembly. At present, Congress has 17 members in the Manipur Assembly as against that of BJP which is the single-largest party with 24 MLAs. 

On Wednesday, Manipur Congress remained evasive on whether its state party chief Govindas Konthoujam would join BJP in the near future. While the Bishnupur legislator has submitted his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, it is unclear whether it has been accepted yet.