Assam Congress working president Rana Goswami resigns; likely to join BJP

Source: Hindustan Times

Guwahati: In another setback to the Congress, senior party leader and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Rana Goswami resigned on Wednesday, officials aware of the matter said.

"I beg to state that I am tendering my resignation as the working president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee and as an active member of Indian National Congress," Goswami wrote in a letter addressed to KC Venugopal, general secretary (organisation) of Congress.

Earlier on Sunday, Goswami resigned from his role as the organisational in-charge of Upper Assam, citing "various political reasons".

The decision comes after he met with his followers on Saturday night in his hometown Jorhat, amid speculations that the former MLA was planning to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its ally, the Asom Gana Parishad.

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The development came two weeks after another Congress working president - Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha (an MLA from North Karimganj), and Mangaldai legislator Basanta Kumar Das - quit the party and extended support to the BJP-led government in the state.

Goswami is expected to meet with the BJP's central leadership and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sarma is presently in Delhi to discuss party candidates for the coming Lok Sabha polls, said officials.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sarma said that Giswami is a strong leader from Jorhat and the party will welcome him if he takes any such decision.

Goswami had been elected twice to the state assembly, in 2006 and 2011, from Jorhat as a Congress candidate. There's speculation that he could be the BJP candidate from the Titabar seat (also in the Jorhat district) in the 2026 assembly polls.