Eight Opposition parties in Assam led by the Congress on Wednesday decided to form an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Assembly elections expected to take place in 2026, The Hindu reported.

The parties in the proposed Opposition bloc are the Congress, the Raijor Dal, the Assam Jatiya Parishad, the Anchalik Gana Morcha, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the All-Party Hill Leaders’ Conference.

The All India United Democratic Front, which had contested the 2021 polls in seat-sharing arrangements with the Congress, is not part of the bloc, the Deccan Herald reported. The party had recently announced that it would contest the Assembly polls in 2026 alone, the newspaper reported.

The ruling BJP-led alliance had won the 2021 polls with 75 seats in the 126-member Assembly.

On Wednesday, after a two-hour meeting of the eight parties, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said that the Opposition alliance had been formed to free the people of the state from “misrule, corruption and oppression of the current government”, The Hindu reported.

The Assam Congress chief added that the bloc would hold further meetings to finalise its campaign strategy.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, downplayed the formation of the new bloc, The Hindu reported.

“Such meetings of Opposition parties and subsequent quarrels among themselves are common,” the newspaper quoted the BJP leader as saying. “Now that elections are around the corner, we will see more such meetings.”