Over 100 youth leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Assam unit joined the Congress on Sunday citing unhappiness over the party’s functioning in the state.

The joining programme at the Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati in the presence of the Congress leaders is seen as a boost to the principal Opposition party in the state in the run-up to the bypolls to the five Assembly constituencies and panchayat polls this year.

“More than 100 youth leaders from AAP joined @INCIndiain Guwahati Rajiv Bhawan today,” Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah said on X soon after the joining ceremony.

The new entrants to the party fold were from five districts — Nagaon, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Nalbari and Barpeta.

Guwahati-based Zafaryal Hady Hussain, who was the vice-president (administration) of the AAP youth wing, told The Telegraph that the state unit was “not functioning properly and not encouraging the youth”.

“Altogether 122 AAP youth members from five districts joined the Congress on Sunday. As youth, we want to ensure our energy is well spent. We see the Congress as an alternative to the BJP. It can work for the people better and will also provide positive and inclusive governance, the way people want when the time comes,” Hussain said.

The AAP, which is part of the joint Opposition bloc, had unsuccessfully contested two of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, leading to the dissolution of the state unit in June so that it could “take fresh guard ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls”.

A six-member working committee is currently looking after the affairs of the party.

Convener of the working committee and president of the AAP state committee, Dr B. Choudhury, reacting to the new development, told The Telegraph that they were in the process of reconstituting the state unit.

“We knew this group would leave.... They were already working for the Congress since the Lok Sabha elections. There’s not much to say. We will be completing the reconstitution of our state and district committees by this month. We will take fresh guard with an eye on the 2026 polls,” Choudhury said.