Congress Stages Walkout as Assam Assembly Rejects Power Crisis Debate

Guwahati: Assam's budget session turned chaotic on Monday. Opposition Congress lawmakers walked out of the Assembly chamber shortly after Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass blocked their push for an emergency debate on the state's failing power grid. Leader of the Opposition Wazed Ali Choudhury had demanded the assembly freeze all business to address what he called a public emergency.

Choudhury argued that erratic outages plague the state while electricity demand climbs toward 3,000 MW. He noted that internal hydro and thermal production covers only a fraction of that need. Students preparing for exams are suffering the most because power cuts follow no predictable schedule. The opposition also hammered the government over smart meter billing despite the persistent lack of electricity.

Rupahihat MLA Nurul Huda slammed the government's broken promises to keep the lights on. He told reporters, "The entire state is suffering in the sweltering heat while people continue to face prolonged load-shedding. The Assam government has failed to provide adequate electricity."

Nowboicha MLA Joy Prakash Das echoed those complaints. He insisted that the Assembly needed to confront the gap between government claims and the reality of frequent blackouts. The Speaker remained unmoved. The Congress team exited the building to protest the shutdown of the debate.