‘Congress-BJP’ churn sets stage for high-stakes Dispur contest in Assam

The battle of the ballot in Dispur, Assam’s seat of power, is turning out to be a contest between the “new BJP” and “old BJP”, or similarly, the “new Congress” and the “old Congress”, amid a spate of defections ahead of the Assembly election.

Jayanta Kumar Das, who filed his nomination papers on Monday (March 23, 2026) as an independent after being denied a ticket by the BJP, said, “I gave 35 years of my life.” He is one of the senior-most leaders of the saffron party. Dispur’s Congress candidate Mira Borthakur Goswami and BJP nominee Pradyut Bordoloi follow in political seniority.

Congress and BJP leaders switching parties ahead of the election have given rise to a hybrid term — ‘CongBJP’, specially used by Gen-Z to describe those who have crossed over. At least 30 leaders, who switched to the BJP after long stints in the Congress, include Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“I came quietly to file my papers to avoid being heckled, attacked or slapped with a case. I am relieved after leaving the party of ‘CongBJP’ leaders, who are torturing people with their brand of politics,” Mr. Das said.

He said he would soon form a new party, “Trinamool BJP”, and hoped to defeat his rivals with “both BJP and Congress in their DNA”.

Ms. Borthakur said she had her reasons to leave the “polarisation specialist” BJP in 2018. She said the people of Dispur would trust her more than Mr. Bordoloi, who secured the BJP ticket “overnight”.

“People do change parties, but his crossover was driven by greed for power,” she said, asserting that people would vote for her because of her consistent welfare work.

Mr. Bordoloi defended his decision to leave Congress, dismissing claims that rebels would upset the BJP’s applecart in Dispur. “I have been given the respect I lost toward the end of my time with the Congress,” he said.

Among those who felt let-down by the BJP is sitting MLA Atul Bora, who won the seat five times, including the first three terms as an Asom Gana Parishad candidate. However, the Chief Minister persuaded him out of rebellion.

“I hope to contest the 2029 Lok Sabha polls from the Guwahati seat on a BJP ticket,” Mr. Bora said.

Dispur is one of the 10 Assembly segments under the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency.