Minorities too have deserted Cong: Akhil Gogoi rips into ex-ally after Nagaon rout

The BJP is all set to win the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes, with the Congress languishing in the third spot. Raijor Dal leader and former Congress ally, Akhil Gogoi, called the party's defeat in a constituency with over 55% Muslim voters a tragedy for all anti-BJP forces.Raijor Dal, led by Akhil Gogoi (left), was an alliance partner of the Congress, led in Assam by Gaurav Gogoi, till September. (File)New Delhi,Oct 9, 2026 17:31 ISTThe BJP is all set to register an emphatic victory in the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election, pushing the Congress to third place. The poor performance has triggered fresh criticism of Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi from former ally Akhil Gogoi. The Raijor Dal chief described the Congress's defeat in a constituency where Muslims account for more than 55% of voters as a "tragedy for Assam's anti-BJP forces".Akhil Gogoi said Gaurav Gogoi had lost the moral right to continue as state Congress president and called for a fundamental overhaul of the party. "The minority vote share for Congress has plummeted from 25% to just 5%," Akhil Gogoi told ANI."The BJP is poised to win this minority-dominated seat... This is a historic defeat for the Congress... I believe the Congress President, Gaurav Gogoi, has failed completely. In my opinion, Gaurav Gogoi should resign from the post of State Congress President this very day," he said.Speaking to Assamese news channel DT 365 earlier on Friday, Akhil Gogoi said "the Congress's inability to retain minority support was particularly worrying". He described the Nagaon result as a "historic setback and said the party needed to reconsider both its leadership and its strategy for fighting the BJP." Akhil Gogoi's criticism comes barely five weeks after the Congress formally severed ties with Akhil Gogoi's Raijor Dal on September 3. It accused Akhil Gogoi's Raijor Dal of repeatedly attacking Congress leaders and violating the principles of their alliance. Sibsagar MLA Akhil Gogoi, who had accused the Congress of sidelining his party, nevertheless decided not to field a candidate in the Nagaon by-election.Founded by Akhil Gogoi in October 2020 following the anti-CAA protests, Raijor Dal currently holds two seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly, with Gogoi representing Sibsagar and Mehboob Muktar representing Dhing. The October 6 by-election in Nagaon was necessitated after former Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi joined the BJP and subsequently won the Dispur Assembly seat. Congress had won Nagaon in both 2019 and 2024, making the constituency one of its remaining parliamentary strongholds in Assam. Following the 2023 delimitation, Muslims were estimated to account for 55-58% of its electorate.Click here for the best live blog on the Nagaon by-election.AKHIL GOGOI QUESTIONS GAURAV'S RIGHT TO LEAD CONGRESSAkhil Gogoi's sharpest criticism concerned the Congress's inability to hold on to minority voters, whom he described as an important support base for the party.In his remarks to DT365, he called the Congress's performance in minority-dominated Nagaon a "tragic event in the political history of Assam".He said the defeat was unfortunate, not just for the Congress, but for "all the opposition parties, and for all the anti-BJP forces".Akhil Gogoi argued that the result exposed a deeper crisis within the Congress, which, he suggested, was losing support among both majority and minority communities.He also questioned Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi's continuation as party president, saying he would "no longer have the moral right to remain the party president".The Raijor Dal leader also said the Congress high command might have to reconsider Gaurav's leadership and argued that the party required a fundamental change in how it organised its opposition to the BJP.WHY CONGRESS AND RAIJOR DAL PARTED WAYSThe bitterness between the Congress and Raijor Dal had been brewing for months before the Nagaon by-election brought their differences into sharper focus. On September 3, the Assam Congress ended its alliance with Raijor Dal, accusing its leaders of repeatedly criticising Congress and violating the understanding under which opposition parties had agreed to work together.The split followed months of friction over seat-sharing and leadership. Earlier, Akhil Gogoi had accused Congress of humiliating his party during negotiations for the Assembly elections. He said Raijor Dal had sought a larger share of seats, while Congress was prepared to concede only four.Despite the rupture, Akhil Gogoi announced on September 15 that Raijor Dal would not contest Nagaon, citing the larger objective of preventing communal forces from gaining ground. He said his party would have preferred to support Congress but had been excluded from the alliance.NAGAON ROUT DEEPENS CONGRESS'S ASSAM CRISISThe Nagaon by-election has exposed the scale of Congress's electoral difficulties following its defeat in the April Assembly polls. In the April 2026 Assam Assembly elections, the Congress suffered a crushing defeat, winning just 19 of the 126 seats, down from 29 in 2021. The BJP-led NDA swept 102 seats, leaving the Congress with a diminished presence in the Assembly and a weakened position as the state's principal opposition party.In the latest update from Nagaon, BJP candidate Devasish Sharma secured 6.4 lakh votes, followed by AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who got 4.6 lakh votes. Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora was a distant third with 1.1 lakh votes.The result is also embarrassing for the Congress, which had dismissed the AIUDF's electoral prospects after its 2024 Lok Sabha debacle. In January 2026, Gaurav Gogoi cited the AIUDF's "complete failure" while ruling out an alliance with Badruddin Ajmal's party. Nine months later, Ajmal is set to finish ahead of the Congress candidate in Nagaon.The bypoll result is particularly significant because Nagaon was held by the Congress in 2019 and 2024. Its electorate also includes four Muslim-majority Assembly segments, while the Congress won three of the constituency's eight segments in the 2026 state elections. The Congress had already suffered a major setback in April, when its Assembly tally fell from 29 seats in 2021 to just 19 in the 126-member House. The BJP-led NDA secured 102 seats, leaving Congress, Raijor Dal, AIUDF and Trinamool Congress with a combined 24 seats.In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won three of Assam's 14 parliamentary seats. With Bordoloi's departure, its strength fell to two, and losing Nagaon would make that reduction permanent.It must also be noted that before the Nagaon bypoll, the All-Assam Minority Students' Union endorses the BJP-led alliance. This had indicated that the Congress could no longer assume the support of every organisation representing minority interests. Also, AIUDF chief Ajmal was in the fray. So, Akhil Gogoi warning the Congress and taking it on, adds to the pressure on Gaurav Gogoi, whose party must confront both its organisational divisions and its shrinking electoral base.- Ends(Written by Sushim Mukul)