The prior understanding of the vote between Congress and AIUDF has been general knowledge for some time. Badruddin Ajmal had recently declared that his party will contest elections of only 3 seats in Assam to avoid the “division of secular votes” in the elections.
The State Congress, for its part, has argued that there was no understanding as such, although each indicator points to a different conclusion. Now, divisional reports have emerged within the Assam Congress after a section of the unit opposed attempts to reach an agreement with the Ajmal party.
It is reported that a leader of a high-ranking party said that despite a resolution passed by APCC that opposes any alliance, a certain section of leaders had already begun negotiations with the AIUDF. It has been reported that Ajmal has tied the president of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, Mehmood Madani, to persuade the AICC to propose candidates for the election of Ajmal. But the proposal was rejected.
As a consequence of the rift , the announcement of candidates for four constituencies was delayed when the APCC postponed the scheduled meeting of the party’s electoral committee. Even former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, who was once a fierce critic of Ajmal, has remained silent to ensure the victory of his son Gaurav Gogoi in the Kaliabor constituency, which has a sizeable Muslim population.
Reports say that the president of the state Congress, Ripun Bora, and the leader of the opposition, Debabrata Saikia, were summoned to Delhi to participate in a meeting to select candidates for the Congress of Dhubri, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Guwahati.
The Saikia camp has been claiming that despite the APCC’s resolution not to associate with Ajmal, a section has been negotiating with Ajmal and, therefore, a “light” candidate, Abdul Rezzak has been nominated by Dhubri, for help Ajmal to keep his MP position.
It is said that Badruddin Ajmal has also tried to have the Congressional leaders appoint another light candidate in Barpeta.
Yesterday, during a press conference, the president of APCC, Ripun Bora, said: “The Congress party is a secular party and will never make any alliance open or secret with a communal party like AIUDF.”
It seems that despite the opposition of the State Congress, the top brass have already made a decision to reach an agreement prior to the poll with Ajmal before the general elections.