DK Shivakumar and Gaurav Gogoi Campaign for Congress in Dispur, Back Mira Borthakur

Senior Congress leaders from across the country converged on Dispur on Sunday evening to campaign for party candidate Mira Borthakur, in a meeting that brought together Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, and APCC President Gaurav Gogoi.

Gogoi had earlier attended the massive Lakhimpur rally addressed by AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge before proceeding directly to Guwahati for the Dispur event.

Also Read: Kharge Unveils Five Congress Guarantees for Assam at Lakhimpur Rally

Taking centre stage, D. K. Shivakumar trained his attack on the BJP's decade-long record in Assam, questioning what he described as a consistent failure to honour electoral commitments.

"In the last 10 years, the BJP government has failed to properly fulfil even one of its election promises," he said, directing particular attention at the unresolved demand for ST status for six communities — a promise, he said, that has been repeatedly made and repeatedly broken.

Shivakumar also raised a pointed local issue, noting that the BJP candidate in Dispur had previously prepared a charge sheet against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. "The allegations in that charge sheet should be discussed with the Chief Minister," he challenged.

Backing the Congress's five guarantees announced earlier in the day at Lakhimpur, he assured the gathering that they would be implemented fully if a Congress government is formed under Gaurav Gogoi's leadership — pointing to the successful rollout of five similar guarantees in Karnataka as evidence of the party's track record on delivery.

In a moment that resonated deeply with the Guwahati audience, Shivakumar expressed regret over the condition and location of the burial site of the late Zubeen Garg.

"He was not just a singer but the voice of Assam and its people," he said, adding that while he felt fortunate to have visited the site, he lamented that it was located far from central Guwahati. He said the memorial deserved a more prominent, accessible location within the city.

APCC President Gaurav Gogoi used the Dispur platform to level a serious allegation against the ruling BJP — claiming that women beneficiaries of state welfare schemes are being threatened with benefit cuts if they do not attend BJP meetings or tune in to the Prime Minister's Mann Ki Baat.

"It is the duty of the government to provide benefits to people and not to condition them on attendance at party events," he said.

Gogoi argued that welfare funds belong to the public — collected from taxpayers — and must be distributed without political strings attached. He pledged that under a Congress government, existing schemes would continue and improve, but would be entirely free of political conditions.

Gogoi used the occasion to restate the Congress's five promises for Assam in full:

• Rs 50,000 for women to support small businesses and self-employment

• A monthly pension of Rs 1,250 for senior citizens, backed by a dedicated welfare department

• Free health insurance of up to Rs 25 lakh per family

• Land pattas for 10 lakh indigenous people

• Justice within 100 days in the Zubeen Garg case

Gogoi saved his sharpest line for Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directly, accusing him of opportunism and stating that his words carry no credibility.

He reframed the entire Assam election contest in unconventional terms: "The political battle in Assam is not between Congress and BJP, but between old tainted Congress and the real Congress."

Appealing to voters to end what he called "dirty politics," Gogoi urged citizens across Assam to vote for the Congress on April 9.