Akhil Gogoi hints Raijor Dal may go solo in Assam polls

Hours after the Congress and three other parties announced their pre-poll alliance on Friday (March 6, 2026), Raijor Dal president and Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi indicated that his regional party would contest the upcoming Assembly elections alone.

Taking to social media, he posted a three-word cryptic sentence in Assamese that translates to “The final attempt failed, too.”

The message is being interpreted as a reference to the failure of his efforts to strike an equitable seat-sharing deal with the Congress.

This was Mr Gogoi’s second signal to Congress that he wanted his “pound of flesh” in the seat-sharing arrangement. 

His party released its first list of 11 candidates a day after Congress released its first list of 42 candidates on March 3. Among the constituencies in the Raijor Dal list is Margherita, where the Congress has fielded its MP Pradyut Bordoloi’s son, Prateek Bordoloi.

His party released its first list of 11 candidates a day after the Congress announced its first list of 42 candidates on March 3.  

On Friday, State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi did not directly respond to questions on the status of his party’s alliance with the Raijor Dal, but said he hoped the opposition platform would expand. 

He said discussions with parties other than CPI(M), Assam Jatiya Parishad, and All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference were still ongoing. “We will undertake joint campaign meetings across the State,” he added.

The opposition alliance has not yet finalised its seat-sharing arrangement.

Meanwhile, five Congress MLAs switched to other political parties in recent weeks. Three joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, while two joined the Raijor Dal.