WANING SCENT OF SAFFRON

A CONGRESS-AIUDF ALLIANCE, ANTI-CAA SENTIMENT AND HIMANTA BISWA SARMA’S LONG-STANDING AMBITION MAY MAKE THE GOING TOUGH FOR BJP-AGP

- Kaushik Deka

HAND IN HAND Badruddin Ajmal and Tarun Gogoi emerge after filing the nomination for the joint Rajya Sabha candidate, March 2020

The speculation about a pre-poll alliance between the Congress and the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the signs of dissent within the state unit of the ruling BJP have created new electoral arithmetic in Assam even though the assembly election is seven months away. Several top leaders of the Assam Congress have publicly said that they favor a pre-poll alliance with all anti

BJP parties, including AIUDF. “We are entering into an alliance with the AIUDF in the greater interest of the people of Assam,” Congress veteran and former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi recently said in Guwahati.

On paper, the tie-up between the two parties could give them an edge in over 50 of Assam’s 126 assembly seats by preventing a split of the Muslim vote. Both parties bank heavily on their support given that the community makes up 35 per cent of the state’s population. In fact, the Assam-born and Mumbai-based perfume baron Ajmal floated the AIUDF in 2005 to protect Banglaspeaking Muslims from harassment, considering they are often perceived as illegal settlers from Bangladesh.