Dynastic Sunset in Assam: Sons of Three Former Chief Ministers Toppled in BJP Landslide
Diganta Barman was also defeated at Barkhetri; his father, the late Bhumidhar Barman had acted as chief minister when Hiteswar Saikia had died while in office.
Guwahati: The sons of three former chief ministers were defeated in the Assam Assembly elections, among them state Congress president and MP Gaurav Gogoi, the son of Tarun Gogoi, the longest-serving CM of Assam at Jorahat, and Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, the son of two-time CM late Hiteswar Saikia, Debabrata Saikia at Nazira. The third was Diganta Barman at Barkhetri, whose father late Bhumidhar Barman had acted as chief minister when Hiteswar Saikia had died while in office.
Reacting to the loss by these three Congress candidates, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “There is nothing good to feel in someone's loss. Especially, when it is Hiteswar Saikia's son.” Sarma, who was an influential Congress leader for nearly two decades before joining the BJP in 2014, was inducted into the grand old party by Saikia.