New Delhi: The Congress will play the role of a constructive and aggressive opposition and thwart any attempts by the NDA government to subvert Parliament, Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi said on Tuesday.
Gogoi, who has won the election from Jorhat parliamentary constituency in Assam, represented the Kaliabor seat in the Lok Sabha during the previous House in which he was the deputy leader of the Congress.
In the new House, Gogoi, the son of former chief minister the late Tarun Gogoi, is seen as a contender for the post of Leader of the Opposition if former party chief Rahul Gandhi declines the Congress Working Committee’s unanimous request to accept the key post.
Q The Congress fought aggressively, but could not dislodge the BJP government. What will be the Congress party’s strategy in the new Lok Sabha?
The Congress will play the role of a constructive and aggressive opposition. We are much stronger now with 99 seats. We are ready to defend the Parliament and the Constitution. Any attempt by the ruling NDA to subvert Parliament or Constitution will be met with a combative opposition. The NDA victory is a slender one with a difference of only 32 seats against the INDIA bloc. In my view the NDA should not call it a victory. All decisions in the INDIA bloc will be taken collectively.
Q Who will be the new Leader of the Opposition?
The Congress Working Committee has passed a resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take that post. A decision to that effect will be made at an appropriate time. I await the party’s decision on my future. But, I would like to focus on my home state Assam where I rethink there is a chance to bring the Congress back to power in 2026.
Q Why do you say so?
See, the people of Jorhat defeated Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had made it his personal election. Also, the people in Dhubri seat voted against AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who played the BJP’s game. These two defeats for the BJP show that the people of Assam are ready for a change in 2026 Assembly polls. We need to work with our allies. Justice will be done only when we bring the Congress back to power in the state and we must start preparing for that goal now. The same goes for other poll-bound states Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and UT Jammu and Kashmir.
Q Whom would you like to credit for the Congress’s turnaround in 2024?
No doubt it is Rahul Gandhi whose two nationwide yatras showed that the Congress’ strength lay in its connection with the voters. The yatras showed that democracy was at the core of the party’s ideology. Now we should take that message to every nook and corner of the country, including in Uttar Pradesh and Assam. The Assam Chief Minister blamed a particular religion in Nagaland for the results in the state and the BJP in UP blamed another religion for the party’s defeat in Ayodhya.
Q What about the states where the party’s show was not up to the mark?
The party will take stock of the situation in those states and will take remedial measures. I can speak for Rajasthan where I lead the panel to select Assembly candidates. We lost only by a vote share difference of two per cent and have done remarkably well in the Lok Sabha elections as compared to 2019. One thing is common between both Assam and Rajasthan--the BJP campaign was lacklustre--the PM made a controversial remark in the Banswara seat, which we have won.
Read more: A Son-Rise From the Northeast: 10 Reasons Behind Gaurav Gogoi's Victory From Jorhat
