Assam Congress to hold three-day review meeting to discuss bypoll debacle

Guwahati: Assam Congress President Bhupen Borah said on Wednesday that the party will hold a three-day meeting to review its debacle in the state by-elections.

He told reporters here, "On December 13-15, we will have an in-depth discussion in Guwahati where the officer bearers from block and district will attend a meeting. We will take ground reports for the loss in the recently concluded by-election to five seats. Once our review meeting is over, I will be in a position to tell what went wrong."

He said, "The party has started preparations for the Panchayat elections. We will try to field candidates with a good image among the public."

Borah said, "Congress is always in favour of uniting all opposition forces to take on the BJP. But now as the Panchayat polls are knocking on the doors, we can discuss that after the election. The other opposition leaders like Akhil Gogoi must be very busy in his constituency for the Panchayat polls."

Earlier, Akhil Gogoi, the Sivasagar MLA said that an alliance with the Congress can be formed only if the seat-sharing pact was sealed before the polls.

"Congress must decide how many seats they want to fight the polls. They keep these things pending till the election dates are announced and at the last moment, they announce their candidates in most of the seats," Gogoi said.

According to Gogoi, to oust the BJP from power, all opposition parties, including Congress, must fight unitedly. This is the only way to defeat the ruling party in the next Assembly polls."

The Sivasagar legislator also warned that the Congress would put up a poor show if it decided to contest the Assembly polls alone.

"In the 2021 Assembly election, Congress got 26 seats but if they contest polls alone, they will hardly win six seats in the next polls," he said.

Congress drew a blank despite contesting all five seats that went to by-elections recently.