Guwahati, Sept 7: Though the alliance of Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) forged ahead of Assam Assembly elections was cut short ahead of the ensuing bye-elections, the latter’s chief Badruddin Ajmal is very calm about it and said he has accepted the decision of “big brother Congress”.
Once arch-enemies, the AIUDF and Congress forged alliance ahead of Assembly elections held in March-April this year to form a unified force against the incumbent BJP, a move that was widely criticised both within the party and by the masses too.
“Congress is the big brother and it has decided to leave us without even asking us. But, we accept the decision,” Ajmal, who is also a Lok Sabha MP, said.
He further added that it was a “political alliance” and severing ties would rather be helpful for both the parties.
Many Congress leaders against Alliance with AIUDF
While the former Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Ripun Bora was the one under whose leadership the alliance was formed, the current president Bhupen Borah was against the alliance since beginning. Ripun had resigned as Assam Congress chief in May 2021 following Congress’ abysmal performance in the Assembly elections.
He said recently that the AIUDF has worked against the core principle of alliance. “We have allied to fight against the divisive policies of BJP. Some AIUDF leaders praised the BJP led government for their personal gains. One of the leaders had even supported the Taliban for it’s recent Afghanistan coup. This is not acceptable to us.”
There were many others who also subscribed to Borah’s discontentment and was of the view that its alliance with AIUDF, a party often associated with Bengali-speaking Muslims and immigrants, have rather affected the party’s performance in Upper Assam where anti-immigrants sentiments run strong.
Congress Grand Alliance crumbling
Meanwhile, the Congress’s mahajoth, the alliance of at least 10 parties, seems to be falling off with its only other prime ally after AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) also announcing that it will contest the by-polls on its own.
Congress in this year’s Assembly polls won 29 seats while its ally All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won 14 seats. Although, two sitting Congress MLAs have resigned from the Assembly. While BPF won four seats and CPI(M) wrested one.
Congress move to help it align with regional forces
Party insiders, however, said that the exit of the AIUDF will open avenues for Congress to align with regional forces.
“The Congress had earlier too tried to connect with the regional political parties such as Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Peasant leader, Akhil Gogoi led Raijor Dal to the grand alliance, but born out of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) movement, these parties showed reservation against AIUDF. With that gone, talks may come back on track,” sources said.
Ajmal too said last Monday that Akhil Gogoi whose party has one MLA is frustrated and is meeting Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee to garner media limelight.
