Gaurav Gogoi takes over as Assam Cong president, urges cadre to prepare for poll

Guwahati, Jun 3 (PTI) Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday launched his innings as the Assam Congress president with the slogan 'Juz Hobo' (there will be battle) as he urged party workers to prepare themselves for next year's assembly polls.

Assuming charge as the state unit chief, he also appealed for the support of all sections of society to topple the current BJP regime and replace it with a government that works for "harmony and inclusive development".

Gogoi, who was named the state party chief last week, took charge from outgoing president Bhupen Kumar Borah, who had helmed the state's main opposition party for over four years, at the state Congress headquarters here earlier in the day.

Senior party leaders, including AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia, were present on the occasion.

Gogoi visited Kamakhya temple before taking charge as the Congress's state unit chief.

Speaking to reporters after assuming charge, Gogoi said the party will continue to be inspired by its ideology of equality and inclusiveness.

"Inspired by the ideology of leaders from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru to Hiteswar Saikia and Tarun Gogoi, we will together take the party forward," he said.

Addressing a felicitation programme at Manabendra Sarma Complex in the city later, Gogoi said the party will approach next year's assembly polls with the slogan 'Juz Hobo'.

"We will fight and this fight will be to establish a government that will work for harmony and equal growth of all sections. I urge our workers to brace themselves for a tough fight ahead," he said.

The Congress's deputy leader in Lok Sabha asserted that party workers will not be dissuaded by threats or fake cases that may be brought against them.

Gogoi, the son of the state's longest-serving chief minister, the late Tarun Gogoi, also appealed for the support of all sections of people, from farmers to students to women to senior citizens, to help the Congress in this fight.

Gogoi was named the new state unit chief by the party's central leadership last week at a time when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had been attacking him over his British wife's alleged connection with Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

Gogoi had flown to his constituency Jorhat from New Delhi on Saturday.

He undertook a three-day procession from Sivasagar to Guwahati, reaching the city late on Monday evening.

The rally had stopovers at different places, including Titabor, Jorhat, Nagaon, Morigaon and Jagiroad, where party workers felicitated Gogoi and he addressed his supporters. PTI