New Delhi: Grappling with criticism following Congress's defeat in the last Assam Assembly election, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora on Thursday clarified that fighting the poll under the umbrella of "Mahajot" (grand alliance) was not a unilateral decision taken by him.
"Let me clarify that the decision to fight under Mahajot was a collective decision which was approved by AICC. In fact, AICC general secretary, and all other senior leaders supported the move to contest the election along with other like-minded parties," said Bora in New Delhi.
The statement given by the APCC president comes at a time when a high powered committee set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi has told in a report that contesting the election under Mahajot was a major reason for the debacle of the party in the last election.
The committee headed by former Maharastra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan in its report pointed out many other reasons behind the party's debacle in the State.
Admitting the fact that the election result was not as expected, Bora said, "We gave a tough fight to BJP and its allies."
"We need 64 seats to form government in the state but we were 14 seats short of that. Mahajot got 50 seats and the difference of vote percentage between Mahajot and Congress was only eight percent," said Bora.
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He said that the intention of forging an alliance with like-minded parties was to give a message to BJP that people in Assam want to dethrone the party.
"On earlier occasions, we fought alone against BJP. Though we came to an understanding with many other parties this time," added Bora.
The APCC president said that he is ready to hand over the charge of the state president of the party whenever he is asked to do so.
"I am performing my duty as APCC president as suggested by Sonia Gandhi. But, I am ready to hand over the responsibility the moment I am asked to do so," said Bora.
It may be mentioned here that immediately after the Assembly election result, Bora tendered his resignation to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
