The Congress-led Opposition alliance on Friday attacked the BJP in Assam for taking the help of the AIUDF — a party it had repeatedly branded “communal” — in the upcoming Rajya Sabha election.
Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, addressing a joint news conference in Guwahati with leaders of three other Opposition parties in a pre-poll alliance, said: “In the end, the BJP had to take refuge in the AIUDF. For so long chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma spread fear among people by repeatedly invoking the AIUDF and making divisive remarks such as ‘Miya’ and ‘outsider’. But today he has embraced the same
people.”
The AIUDF is also an Opposition party but is not part of the Congress-led bloc for the upcoming Assembly polls.
Calling Sarma an “opportunist”, Gogoi said the BJP’s “alignment” with the AIUDF was extremely unfortunate for Assam’s politics.
“(AIUDF chief Badruddin) Ajmal acts like a ‘108 service’ for Himanta Biswa Sarma. Whenever he is in trouble, Sarma takes Ajmal’s 108 service,” he said, referring to the toll-free number for emergency medical services in Assam.
This is the second day Gogoi has targeted Sarma and the BJP after three AIUDF MLAs — Karimuddin Barbhuiya, Nizamuddin Choudhury and Zakir Hussain Laskar — “formally” supported the candidature of UPPL chief Pramod Boro for the third Rajya Sabha seat from Assam in the presence of senior BJP leaders on Thursday.
The BJP-led NDA alliance, with the help of the AIUDF MLAs, is set to win all three seats from Assam uncontested since the Opposition has not fielded any candidate.
The Congress had severed ties with the AIUDF after its nominee Ripun Bora lost the Rajya Sabha polls in 2022. Several Opposition parties have also kept their distance from the AIUDF, widely seen in the Brahmaputra Valley as a party “espousing the cause” of Bangladeshi immigrants.
The BJP has repeatedly attacked the Congress for its ties with the AIUDF, a point raised again by Gogoi and Assam Jatiya Parishad chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi on Friday.
The BJP said the UPPL, not the BJP, had sought the AIUDF’s support to win the third seat. A BJP spokesperson said the party had not fielded a candidate but was ready to support the UPPL, a constituent of the NDA.
AIUDF has suspended two of the three MLAs while one has resigned from the party.
Taking a dig at the BJP, Lurinjyoti Gogoi said the party survives in Assam because of the AIUDF. “Without the oxygen supplied by the AIUDF, the BJP cannot survive in politics even for a minute,” he said.
Friday’s joint news conference by the four Opposition parties was meant to signal unity ahead of the Assembly polls. Leaders of the APHLC and CPM also attended, while talks are on with Raijor Dal, CPI and CPI(ML) to join the pre-poll alliance.
