Assam speaker grants Wazed Ali Choudhury LoP status

Guwahati: Senior Congress MLA Wazed Ali Choudhury has been granted the status of the leader of opposition by assembly speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass, even though Congress won a record-low 19 seats in the recently held assembly election.“Congress Legislature Party leader Wazed Ali Choudhury has been officially granted the status of the leader of the opposition in the Assam legislative assembly. The Honourable Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly, Shri Ranjeet Kumar Dass, conferred the status of leader of the opposition on Wajed Ali Choudhury,” an Assam Legislative Assembly social media post said on Tuesday.Choudhury said he expects to get the chamber soon, with the allotment process of his office staff likely to begin on Wednesday. “The assembly secretary informed me that I will get the cabinet status (status of a cabinet minister). I thank the speaker, as it was under his discretion to grant the leader of the opposition status,” he told the media.Following recent amendments to the rules for selecting the leader of the opposition, 13 Congress MLAs were sufficient to qualify for the post. Before last year’s amendment, the requirement was 21.Meanwhile, in an unexpected move, the Indian Youth Congress said the recent appointment letter of Congress MLA Tanzil Hussain as Assam Pradesh Youth Congress (APYC) vice-president is invalid. In an order issued on May 31 by the IYC general secretary in-charge of APYC, Mitendra Darshan Singh, Hussain was appointed vice-president of the APYC.Tanzil is the son of senior Congressman and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, who is seen as one of the most influential in Assam Congress. Congress sources said the development could be linked to differences within the state unit of the party, with one group backing Tanzil’s rise and another opposing it. Sources said that in the recent assembly election, APYC president Zubair Anam Mazumder faced resistance from some of the senior Congress leaders, but he secured support from the Youth Congress leadership in Delhi to obtain a ticket from the Algapur-Katlicherra seat in Barak Valley. Although he won, it highlighted an internal power struggle within the Youth Congress, even as the Congress goes through one of its toughest phases in Assam.Although the previous appointment letter of Tanzil said the appointment had the approval of the “competent authority”, the fresh order issued on Monday put the May 31 order on hold with immediate effect. “In view of this strategic directive, the order of your appointment issued on May 31, 2026, is hereby kept on hold with immediate effect and the issuance letter is considered invalid until further instructions are issued from the Central Office,” the latest letter from Singh to Tanzil said.