Gogoi, Sarma Camps Come Face to Face In Assam & Jharkhand By-polls

The duo has been burning the midnight's oil over the Behali assembly seat where the Asam chief minister announced a Rs 100-crore special infrastructure fund.

New Delhi: After the Jorhat Lok Sabha, the power tussle between Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi is playing out again in the Behali assembly by-poll in Assam.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Gogoi left his traditional seat, Kaliabor, to contest from Jorhat where Sarma had deployed his entire cabinet to defeat the Congress leader. Gogoi won the prestigious election and has been regularly countering Sarma over various issues.

The rivals are again on the ground in Behali exerting their influence to regain the seat where a bunch of senior saffron party leaders including Sarma, former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and cabinet ministers are campaigning. Sarma announced a special Rs 100-crore fund to develop infrastructure in Behali to push the candidature of Diganta Ghatowar.

Gogoi is leading the campaign for Congress candidate Jayanta Borah to which state unit chief Bhupen Borah and senior leader Ripun Borah are also contributing.

"The secret to our resounding success in Jorhat was our people-centred campaign. People from all walks of life, young and old, made it their own. The energy of several hardworking workers powered the whole exercise. The message of hope and change resonated with everyone. I am trying the same in Behali by spending time with the commoners to understand their concerns. I am confident of our candidate's victory,” Gogoi told ETV Bharat.

Behali is one of the five seats including Samaguri, Bongaigaon, Dholai and Sidli going to polls. "The Congress is putting up a good show in all by-elections," Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah said.

According to Borah, he along with senior state leaders, urged the chief electoral officer of Assam to install CCTV cameras and deploy adequate security forces at sensitive polling booths to ensure free and fair elections.

The Gogoi-Sarma rivalry is also playing out in Jharkhand where the two leaders are managing the closely contested elections.

Before they parted ways, Sarma was a senior minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet but left Congress for the BJP in 2015. Sarma played a key role in bringing the saffron party to power in Assam in 2016 but had to wait for his turn to become the chief minister till 2021.

Gogoi, an AICC coordinator for Jharkhand has dubbed Sarma, in charge of tribal state polls, as a political tourist.

"The INDIA bloc is set to win Jharkhand again despite BJP’s claims. The Congress-JMM government has worked for the people over the past five years and will again win the trust of the voters,” Gogoi, who was also involved in framing the joint manifesto of the ruling alliance released recently, added.