Assam CM Tarun Gogoi Assam CM Tarun Gogoi

The Congress party in Assam is heading for a split as nearly 40 MLAs demanding ouster of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi have threatened to dislodge Gogoi as the leader of Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP) if Congress high command fails to announce its decision by July 19 on a report submitted by Mallikarjun Kharge to party president Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress leader in Lok Sabha handed over the report to Sonia Gandhi on June 30 following his meeting with Assam MLAs at Guwahati on June 24. The 78-year-old Gogoi has been facing dissidence for over two years and 47 MLAs, including four Cabinet ministers, told Kharge that they did not want Gogoi as their leader. According to sources, though initially Sonia Gandhi had decided to go with the majority, party vice president Rahul Gandhi threw his weight behind Gogoi. "She now wants Gogoi to continue at least till November," said a top Congress leader.

In what will be seen as the first official revolt against the Congress high command after the recent Lok Sabha debacle, Assam Congress dissidents have now decided defy Sonia's will. "We have waited enough for the AICC to take a decision. We will call for a requisition meeting of the ACLP on July 21 and remove Gogoi as the leader. Then we will announce our leader and form an alternative government. We have the numbers and have already got support from other parties," said a member of the dissident camp led by Assam education and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The rift between Gogoi and 46-year-old Sarma, once the chief minister's most trusted aide, started after Gogoi's son, Gaurav, who won 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Kaliabor, joined politics in 2011.

The Congress has 77 members in the 126-member Assembly and 38 dissident members are likely to support the move against Gogoi. AIUDF leader Abdur Rahim Khan and AGP leader Lachit Bordoloi told mediapersons in Guwahati that they had received communication from the dissident camp and were "giving a positive thought to the proposal" for support to a government formed by the anti-Gogoi faction.

AIUDF has 18 members while AGP has 9. The Bodoland People's Party (BPF), which snapped its eight-year-long alliance with Congress last month, is also likely to support the Sarma camp. The party has 12 members in the Assembly. According to sources, the AGP is even ready to join the government.

When contacted, Sarma refused to comment on these developments but three of his aides-Pradan Baruah, Binanda Saikia and Mansing Rongpi-did not deny these reports.

"Politics is all about realignments," said Baruah. What has boosted the confidence of the Sarma camp is the "unofficial support" from Assembly speaker Pranab Gogoi. In fact, Gogoi is one of their chief ministerial candidates if Congress high command declines to agree to their first choice Sarma. The dissident group has even dared the Congress high command to expel all of them from the party. "Let them do that. Whether we form a government or not is not the issue. We will ensure that Gogoi-led government falls," said a dissident member.



