With Assam set to vote on April 9, the state’s political landscape is witnessing a familiar churn, where past rivalries are being rapidly set aside as parties recalibrate alliances to suit electoral arithmetic.
The most striking example is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s induction of Pradyut Bordoloi, a two-term Nagaon MP who resigned from the Congress on March 17 and joined the BJP the following day in the presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The party has since fielded him from the Dispur Assembly constituency in its first list of candidates.
The move marks a sharp shift from the BJP’s earlier stance. In August last year, the party had publicly criticised Bordoloi, describing him as corrupt and manipulative. Bordoloi, for his part, had only weeks earlier chaired a Congress committee that released a “People’s Chargesheet” targeting the Sarma-led government on allegations including corruption and rights violations.
The convergence of these positions now signal the fluidity of political alignments in the run-up to elections.
A similar realignment is visible on the opposition side. Akhil Gogoi, the Raijor Dal chief and a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, has entered into an alliance with the Congress, led in Assam by Gaurav Gogoi.
Also read: Assam CM Sarma files nomination from Jalukbari for sixth term
The alliance, formalised after prolonged negotiations, will see Raijor Dal contest 11 seats, with friendly contests in two others. Akhil Gogoi has also endorsed Gaurav Gogoi as the alliance’s chief ministerial face, describing him as a capable leader.
The development is notable given Akhil Gogoi’s earlier criticisms of the Congress leadership, particularly during the tenure of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, when he had levelled allegations of corruption and demanded investigations.
These evolving alignments highlight the pragmatic considerations shaping electoral strategies in the state, where both ruling and opposition parties are seeking to consolidate support bases ahead of polling.
The stakes remain high, with nearly 2.5 crore voters set to elect representatives to the 126-member Assembly in a single-phase election. Results will be declared on May 4.
As campaigning gathers pace, the shifting political equations underline a broader pattern in electoral politics — where ideological differences and past confrontations often уступ to the imperatives of coalition-building and vote aggregation.
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