On Friday, Badruddin Ajmal, head of the AIUDF, welcomed the Mahagathbandhan led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and called on the Assam Congress and Mamata Banerjee-led TMC to join the opposition grouping to defeat the ruling BJP in the 2024 elections.
Ajmal, a Lok Sabha member from Dhubri, said Kumar and leaders of the Mahagatbandhan will visit Assam next month in order to explore the possibility of expanding the grouping. In Bihar, the Congress is a member of the Mahagatbandhan.
I hope that the Congress (in Assam) and Mamata Banerjee will join the Mahagathbandhan when they arrive. The BJP is our common enemy, and we will be able to defeat them together in 2024,” he told reporters.
To defeat the “common enemy, BJP”, Ajmal also sought to ally with its former ally Congress.
“We Cannot defeat the BJP unless we are united. Therefore, I urge us to join hands again to defeat the BJP.
Bhupen Kumar Borah, president of the Assam Congress, responded to Ajmal’s proposal by stating that such an alliance would not occur between the two opposition parties.
“We have always maintained that the AIUDF is equally communal as the BJP. About Ajmal’s perfume business, he said, “We will ally with the people of Dhubri, but not with a trader”.
On November 1, the Congress launched the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Assam from Dhubri district, where Ajmal lives, and plans to cover 834 kilometres within 70 days.
Borah further stated, “If an alliance occurs between the Congress and AIUDF, I will not be the president of the state Congress.” To fight against the BJP-led NDA, the Congress had formed a ‘Grand Alliance’ with AIUDF, BPF, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM), RJD, Adivasi National Party (ANP) and Jimochayan (Deori) Peoples Party (JPP).
In August last year, Congress broke its alliance with the AIUDF after facing defeat.
It was also decided by the core committee of the state Congress to break ties with the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), while the CPI(M) stated that it did not participate in any alliance with the Congress. PTI
