Assam: Cong mulls alliance with AIUDF to secure seats in RS

The Assam unit of the Congress party is, reportedly, mulling joining hands with the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front in the state to secure seats in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

New Delhi: Ahead of elections for the Rajya Sabha, the Congress party in Assam has offered an olive branch to the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) headed by Badruddin Ajmal to keep the BJP at bay.

The Congress unit in the state is contemplating tying up with regional forces to defeat the BJP.

Sources say former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who once opposed the idea of joining hands with the AIUDF, is now keen to ally with the party.

The Assam unit of the party is mulling putting up a joint candidate of three parties, including AGP, who are against the controversial citizenship law being opposed in Assam.

Congress general secretary in-charge of the state Harish Rawat said there is no proposal yet, but if it comes from the state unit, the party leadership will look into it. "As far as an alliance is concerned, party president Sonia Gandhi is yet to decide on that," said Rawat.

"We respect the sentiment of the parties that are fighting the BJP," Rawat added.

Among the three seats going to the polls, two lie vacant since the Congress MPs representing them switched to BJP, and the third seat is supposed to fall vacant after BPF's Biswajit Daimary's retirement in April.

The AIUDF leader is currently not in the country and is set to return during the upcoming Parliament session.

In the 126-member assembly, Congress has 23 MLAs while BJP has 60 and the AIUDF 13. If the opposition parties join hands, the Congress can win a seat in the Upper House, but in order to do that the latter would require to secure AGP's support which has 14 MLAs.

The Congress, which has got only 46 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, may not be averse in joining hands with a rival party to keep its numbers in the Rajya Sabha, said a source.

IANS Report