Assam polls: After Congress alliance collapse, Raijor Dal ramps up candidate hunt

Guwahati, Mar 14: A day after formally ending alliance negotiations with the Congress, Raijor Dal has moved swiftly to meet prospective candidates, announcing interaction sessions and holding discussions to finalise its nominees.

In a social media post on Saturday, party chief Akhil Gogoi said that discussions with potential candidates are being held at a hotel in Kaziranga.

“Discussions are being held with the potential candidates of Raijor Dal at the Bon Villa Retreat hotel in Kaziranga. These discussions will continue for two days, today and tomorrow,” he said in the post.

According to sources, aspirants from different parts of Assam have gathered in large numbers to seek party nominations, signalling heightened political activity within the regional party as it prepares to contest the elections independently.

Sources also indicated that Raijor Dal is likely to release its second list of candidates in the next few days as it steps up preparations following the breakdown of alliance talks.

The developments come a day after the party announced that it had decided to call off months of negotiations with the Congress over a possible opposition alliance ahead of the 2026 Assam Legislative Assembly elections.

In a press release issued on Friday, Raijor Dal said its executive committee, at its final meeting on the alliance issue, resolved to end the talks as discussions between the two sides failed to yield any concrete outcome.

“The much-discussed alliance talks between the Congress and Raijor Dal have finally ended without a resolution,” the statement said, adding that despite several months of discussions, the Congress did not take a decision to contest the elections jointly with Raijor Dal.

The party said that even during the Congress party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting and a special meeting on alliances held on March 13, no decision was taken regarding a tie-up with Raijor Dal.

The statement further said that at a high-level meeting held in Delhi on Friday involving Congress general secretary Jitendra Singh, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaurav Gogoi and Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia, the Congress also declined to concede the Ranganadi and Dalgaon Assembly constituencies to Raijor Dal.

“As a result, a prominent mediator made it clear to the Congress leadership that it would not be possible for him to place such an unusual proposal before Raijor Dal,” the statement noted.

According to the party, the negotiations had earlier stalled mainly because the Congress was unwilling to directly concede the Dhing Assembly constituency to Raijor Dal.

Raijor Dal claimed that despite repeated rounds of negotiations, the Congress refused to concede the 15 Assembly constituencies sought by the party.

“Out of the 15 constituencies demanded by Raijor Dal, the Congress had agreed to directly concede only four seats, assigned five constituencies of its own choosing to Raijor Dal, and proposed friendly contests in four constituencies,” the statement said.

“In this manner, the Congress not only betrayed Raijor Dal in the name of an alliance, but by continuing discussions until very close to the elections, holding talks after talks, giving date after date and changing its position every day, it caused Raijor Dal to lose these crucial 45 days before the elections,” the statement said.

The party also alleged that the prolonged and indecisive negotiations had caused organisational damage and delayed its election preparations.

“It is noteworthy that on the much-discussed issue of an opposition alliance for the 2026 Assam Assembly elections, the Congress deliberately delayed the process, frequently changed the party committees formed for alliance talks and displayed an indifferent attitude, thereby repeatedly snubbing Raijor Dal,” the statement added.