Jorhat: Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi has stated the occasion ought to have stitched an alliance with its regional allies Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad “a lot earlier”, however maintained that the tie-up, although delayed, has bolstered the Opposition forward of meeting polls within the state on 9 April.

“I’d have favored to ideally wrap up rather more earlier, however nonetheless, I’m very happy with the talks. By no means earlier than in Assam’s historical past has the state Congress allied with so many political events,” Gaurav stated in a wide-ranging interview to ThePrint Monday.

“Your complete authorized fraternity in Guwahati is sad with the investigation. They’ve been asking many questions, so we actually have to supply justice, each to the household and to the supporters,” stated Gaurav, hours after submitting his nomination following a rally throughout Jorhat city in Higher Assam, the place the Congress is relying on its alliance companions Raijor Dal and AJP to ship.

“What Zubeen stated about BJP, that everyone remembers. There are some phrases that are extraordinarily unparliamentary that I can’t even repeat on this interview. These are the phrases that he used for BJP. So folks do not forget that and perceive how Zubeen’s worth system is so totally different from Himanta Biswa Sarma’s,” Gaurav stated.

Garg died on 19 September 2025 in Singapore, the place he had travelled for an occasion, with preliminary studies stating he drowned throughout a sea outing. His loss of life triggered widespread suspicion in Assam, prompting a Particular Investigation Crew (SIT) probe. A chargesheet was filed and a number of people have been arrested together with these related to the occasion. The case is now earlier than a classes court docket, with a fast-track trial ordered to make sure day-to-day proceedings amid continued public scrutiny.

Within the interview with ThePrint, Gaurav stated he had strongly advocated a tie-up with Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal and Lurinjyoti Gogoi-led AJP even through the 2021 state polls, when the Opposition completed with 50 seats within the 126-member Meeting, 14 seats wanting the midway mark.

Floated within the aftermath of the anti-CAA protests in 2020, each Raijor Dal and AJP draw assist from ethnic Assamese communities within the Ahom heartland.

They weren’t a part of the Congress-led coalition in 2021. As an alternative, it included the All India United Democratic Entrance (AIUDF), led by fragrance baron Badruddin Ajmal. This time, the Congress refused to accommodate the AIUDF within the Opposition alliance, calling it a ‘B-team’ of the BJP.

“The Congress had misplaced 17 to 18 seats the place the Raijor Dal and AJP candidates polled round 7,000 to 9,000 votes every. Again in 2021 itself, I had seen the potential of our alliance, and I’m glad that 5 years later, what I had envisioned then, we managed to come back collectively,” Gaurav stated.

The Congress chief, who gained from the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency within the 2024 common election, stated Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s assaults on him, his spouse and their kids over alleged Pakistan hyperlinks have made them stronger as a household.

“So it has solely made us admire one another’s roles and worth programs that rather more. And it exposes the weak point of Himanta Biswa Sarma. It reveals an excessive amount of about what he perceives as a risk from the Congress occasion, or about his personal hidden insecurity,” he stated.

Questioning the motives behind the resignations of former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah and sitting Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi from the occasion and their switchover to the BJP, Gaurav stated their exits have, in reality, left the Congress “stronger”.

“An individual from AGP (a BJP ally) joined us in Lakhimpur district, the place Bhupen Borah comes from. A spark has been lit amongst Congress occasion staff there. If I’m going on the bottom, I see the Congress occasion a lot stronger. I believe the Congress occasion wears a a lot newer, more energizing, stronger, vibrant, progressive look than what it had earlier,” he claimed.

Responding to a query on the BJP’s emphasis on drives in opposition to infiltration because the centrepiece of its marketing campaign in Assam, Gaurav asserted that the Congress-led UPA had taken a extra hardline stance in opposition to unlawful migrants, deporting them to Bangladesh in bigger numbers.

“The BJP talks loads, however does even lower than what the Congress has completed. The Congress would possibly speak lower than the BJP on this challenge, nevertheless it deported way more unlawful Bangladeshi individuals who entered India than PM Modi. We did rather more by way of border fencing than what this authorities is doing. We did extra on making the NRC a foolproof system, however in the present day, the NRC stays inaccurate. So our goal is to resolve, as you stated, tackle the anxieties by means of actual work,” he stated.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

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Additionally Learn: ‘3G’ vs BJP: What seat-sharing pact of three Gogois means for Oppn & CM Himanta in Assam

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