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

The Dispur election heats up as 'CongBJP' defections shape a high-stakes contest between veteran candidates from BJP and Congress.

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 to the party.” 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”.