New Delhi:Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge are keen to contest the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam under the INDIA alliance banner and will review the strategy with senior AICC and state leaders on August 8.
“Khargeji has called a strategy meeting with the AICC and senior state leaders on August 8 to discuss the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. We have decided to go to the polls in alliance with 12 parties under the INDIA banner but the seat-sharing issues need to be discussed. The final call however will have to be made by the high command,” AICC in charge of Assam Jitendra Singh told ETV Bharat.
According to Singh, Rahul believes that the Congress alliance can defeat the BJP in the northeastern states and is keen to take the pact forward to the next assembly polls as well.
“We are confident that the alliance can take on the ruling BJP and the AIUDF of Badruddin Ajmal. AIUDF stayed with us till the last assembly polls but we decided to part ways as we found that he was playing the BJP’s game. The broad theme of the opposition alliance would be the BJP’s divisive politics which is disrupting the social fabric not only in Assam but in the entire northeastern region,” said Singh.
Keeping that in mind, Rahul has also asked the state leaders to launch massive outreach programs over the coming days to regroup the Congress in Assam and let the grand old party play the anchor role in the northeastern state.
Also read: Upon Rahul's Lok Sabha return, BJP raises stink over rival party's 'Chinese link', media purchase
“A program to strengthen the party at the booth level is already on and involves all the senior leaders. A similar outreach for the workers in the tea gardens would be launched soon,” said Singh. At present, the Congress only has 3 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam but the grand old party is keen to reverse the trend in 2024.
“We are confident that only we can defeat the BJP in around eight seats. Then there are some more seats that our leaders would want to contest. We would ideally want to contest all the 14 seats but being in an alliance would require parting with some seats. We will discuss the alliance strategy on Aug 8 and review how many seats we can part with,” Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah told ETV Bharat.
According to Borah, after the Congress discusses the Lok Sabha polls amongst itself, Kharge will hold a separate meeting soon with the alliance partners to review and firm up seat-sharing for 2024. The Assam unit chief said that the party’s booth-connect program is going on well and the party would soon start a special drive focusing on the 5 parliamentary seats in the Brahmaputra Valley that span the tea gardens.
“This will be a 25-day campaign starting Aug 21 targeting the tea garden workers. The BJP had promised them the moon but did nothing for them. Our senior leaders will spend five days in each of the five parliamentary seats where the tea garden workers carry a strong influence,” said Borah.
“In September, we would launch another campaign focusing on securing the future of the Assam youth. This drive will conclude with a massive INDIA rally in Guwahati likely to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi,” he added.
