Former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah to join BJP on February 22

Former Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah will join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on February 22, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after visiting his residence in Guwahati on Tuesday (February 17, 2026).

The announcement ended speculations about which way Mr. Borah would go — remain with the grand old party by withdrawing his resignation or join another political party ahead of the upcoming elections to the 126-member Assembly.

“I am happy to inform you that Bhupen Borah will formally join the BJP on February 22. Along with him, several Congress leaders will join the BJP in Guwahati and Lakhimpur,” the Chief Minister, flanked by Mr. Borah, told journalists at the latter’s residence.

“It will be a homecoming”

The Chief Minister also said the BJP would give respect and dignity to Mr. Borah, who was the “last recognised Hindu leader in Congress”. He added that joining the BJP would be a homecoming for Mr. Borah, as he would be in the company of many of his former colleagues.

“I did not discuss political matters with him today, but we want him to contest from a safe seat from the BJP’s perspective. I will sit with him tomorrow [on Wednesday] for a threadbare discussion,” Mr. Sarma said.

He claimed that the Congress in Assam, left with very few Hindu leaders, was no longer a party of mainstream Assamese people.

“When a leader leaves a party after serving it for 32 years, the party should address the reasons. The problem with the Congress is that it does not address such issues,” Mr. Sarma said, recalling that he and Mr. Borah joined the Congress around the same time in the early 1990s.

Mr. Sarma quit the Congress in 2015 after falling out with the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and joined the BJP.

Mr. Borah submitted his resignation to the Congress leadership on Monday. After senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, tried to make him change his mind, he sought time till Tuesday to reconsider their request to withdraw his resignation.

He said he was unhappy with how the Congress was being led in Assam. “I have apprised the central leadership that if the party is led this way, its future will be uncertain. Everybody, including our alliance partners, knows what is happening in the party and how it is being led,” Mr. Borah said.