Sadiya: Assam Jatiya Parishad candidate Jagadish Bhuyan on Friday visited the Bhupen Hazarika Setu, also known as the Dhola-Sadiya Bridge, with his daughter.
He described the 9.15-km bridge, India’s longest over a river, as a project that was once his personal initiative and is now operational, improving connectivity in Upper Assam.
The Sadiya constituency is set for a multi-cornered contest, with BJP’s Bolin Chetia, AJP’s Bhuyan, and three independent candidates in the fray.
In a social media post, Bhuyan described the bridge, saying: “It connects two shores, opens doors to education, trade, healthcare and progress.”
He also referenced public support during his tenure as Sadiya MLA, which helped complete the project.
The visit comes ahead of the April 9 Assembly election (counting on May 4), as Bhuyan seeks to contest the seat again.
Sadiya is located at the edge of the Brahmaputra plains near the Arunachal Pradesh border, a zone considered strategically significant. Key concerns in the area include flood and erosion control, security, protection of historical monuments, preservation of natural resources, education, employment, and women’s empowerment.
Bhuyan, a former AASU leader and veteran of the Assam Movement, joined AGP in 1995. He was elected Sadiya MLA in 1996 and re-elected in 2001, served as Tourism Minister (1998–2001), and later became AGP general secretary.
As MLA, he and Rajya Sabha MP Arun Sharma proposed the Dhola-Sadiya Bridge to the Vajpayee government in May 2003 and followed up on its development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged Bhuyan’s involvement during the bridge’s inauguration in 2017.
Bhuyan joined BJP in 2015, chaired Assam Petrochemicals Limited with cabinet rank, and resigned in December 2019 in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In 2020, he became coordinator and later general secretary of AJP.
In the 2021 Assembly election, he contested from Sadiya on an AJP ticket and finished third behind BJP’s Bolin Chetia.
Bhuyan’s involvement in the bridge project is being referenced as part of the development agenda in the current election in this flood-prone, border-sensitive constituency.