Guwahati, Jan 6 (IANS): Months ahead of Assembly polls, the main opposition Congress in Assam received a blow as Assembly Speaker Hitendranath Goswami on Tuesday withdrew the recognition of its legislature party leader Debabrata Saikia as the Leader of Opposition.

Assam Assembly officials said on Tuesday that after the resignation of two Congress MLAs recently, the strength of the Congress in the house has come down to 20, one less than the required number in the 126-member Assembly.

An Assembly official said that the present strength of the Congress legislature party is not equal to the quorum fixed to constitute a sitting of the House, that is one-sixth of the total number of members of the House as required under the law.

Former Assam PWD Minister and Congress MLA from Golaghat Ajanta Neog and party's Lakhipur constituency legislator Rajdeep Gowala joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party last week.

With the exit of these two MLAs and the deaths of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and ex-Speaker Pranab Gogoi, both Congress legislators, the strength of the Congress in the Assembly has reduced to 20.

The Assam assembly polls are likely to be held in April-May next year along with West Bengal and Kerala.