Following the Congress’s announcement, the leaders of its 15 allies in the Assam Sonmilito Morcha comprising parties opposed to the BJP, including state units of national parties as well as regional outfits, met in Guwahati and decided that a CPI(ML) nominee would represent them. in the Behali bypoll.

“Even without the Congress, the alliance will remain and we will all work together,” said Lurinjyoti Gogoi, general secretary of the united Opposition forum, saying the Congress announced its candidate without taking its allies into confidence.

Behali is one of the five Assembly seats for which bypolls will be held on November 13. The Congress has already announced its candidates for four of these seats and last week, a five-member committee comprising leaders of its regional allies was formed to decide on a joint candidate from Behali. The committee recommended Bibek Das, Assam state secretary of the CPI(ML), a choice that the Congress high command did not agree to. On Tuesday, Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah resigned as the president of the unity forum citing his inability to “execute” the decision taken by the forum. On Wednesday, amid the strained ties, the CPI(ML) proposed another name and Lurinjyoti Gogoi said they were still waiting for a joint resolution to keep the alliance intact despite accusing the Congress of “autocratic behaviour.”

However, Thursday morning’s surprise move seems to have been the final blow for the Congress’s allies, with Raijor Dal leader and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi calling it a “historic betrayal.”

“The Congress has done a historic betrayal against the people of Assam after talking to its allies and giving them the assurance that whichever candidate is decided by the 15 parties other than the Congress will be the candidate from Behali. Now they have put up a person who had not even joined the Congress till now, who was with the BJP until just 3-4 days ago… This means that the Congress does not have any ideals or principles. It just wants power by any means. This is a betrayal of the whole country, not just the 15 parties… There are no ideals in this election, there is no love towards Assam in this,” he said.

Another prominent member of the Opposition alliance, Independent Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan, called the move “an insult to every member of the Opposition parties.

Akhil Gogoi in particular singled out Congress’s Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi for criticism. The Congress had formed internal committees headed by senior leaders to identify candidates for each of the five constituencies heading into bypolls and Gaurav Gogoi was in charge of Behali.

“Bhupen Borah had been telling us that this seat is reserved for the 15 parties of the united front but there was a clash between him and Gaurav Gogoi… Bhupen Borah wanted us all to stay united and emerge victorious in 2025… but Gaurav Gogoi is trying to prove that Delhi runs according to what he says and that the 2026 election should happen under his leadership… They have nullified an alliance that Bhupen Borah had created,” he alleged.

Gaurav did not respond to a request for comment.

A senior Assam Congress leader said the breakdown in relationship with its allies should be a cause for concern for the party in the run-up to the 2026 polls. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Congress suffered major losses in Upper Assam, the heartland of Assamese nationalism, something that is widely believed to be because of its then alliance with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF. The stitching together of an alliance with regionalist outfits such as the Assam Jatiya Parishad and the Raijor Dal was also aimed at countering an image of a “minority party” and making inroads in Upper Assam.

“We have lost a lot of goodwill with this move. It is quite shortsighted to hamper our relationship with our allies for the sake of one bypoll seat,” said the leader.