“Gaurav Gogoi, Rakibul Hussain didn’t give us Dhing”: Akhil Gogoi says seat row broke alliance

Raijor Dal chief and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi has alleged that the refusal of APCC chief Gaurav Gogoi and MP Rakibul Hussain to leave the Dhing Assembly constituency for his party became the key reason behind the breakdown of the alliance discussions with the Indian National Congress ahead of the 2026 Assam Legislative Assembly election.

Speaking to reporters, Gogoi claimed that during the seat-sharing talks Congress had offered Raijor Dal only a limited number of constituencies of its preference despite repeated negotiations. 

According to Raijor Dal, Congress ultimately offered only 13 seats through its four-member negotiation committee. Of these, the party claimed only four were constituencies of its own choice, while four were proposed as “friendly contests” and five were constituencies suggested by Congress.

Gogoi said that among the nine seats largely controlled by Congress, Raijor Dal managed to secure only four seats of its choice while the remaining five were Congress seats that the party expected Raijor Dal to support as part of a “friendly alliance”.

He further said that out of the four constituencies proposed as part of the friendly arrangement, Dhing was one of the seats Raijor Dal strongly wanted to contest. “If Congress had given us Dhing, we were ready to fight the upcoming Assembly elections together with them,” Gogoi said.

However, he alleged that despite some leaders informally agreeing to the arrangement, Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain refused to concede the seat. “Although others agreed to let it go, Gaurav Gogoi and Rakibul Hussain did not give us the Dhing Assembly constituency. Because of their arrogance, the alliance broke,” he claimed.

The disagreement over Dhing has since manifested in a direct political contest on the ground. The Raijor Dal has fielded its candidate Rahul Chetry from the constituency, while the Congress has nominated Prateek Bordoloi.

Chetry has also criticised Bordoloi’s candidature, describing him as a “parachute candidate” with little connection to the ground realities of the constituency, a remark that has further sharpened the political rivalry between the two opposition parties.

The dispute has exposed widening cracks within the opposition space in Assam, where attempts to build a united front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have often been complicated by disagreements over seat-sharing and local political dynamics.