Blame Congress if BJP comes to power, says AIUDF

All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal here on Monday said that if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in Assam, the Congress should be blamed for dividing secular votes in Assam.

Mr Ajmal, who has been advocating an alliance with the Congress to stop the division of secular votes on social media, said, ““If the BJP wins because of division of secular votes, it is the Congress which will be held responsible.”

In what has been seen as the veteran Muslim leader sensing a swing for the BJP after second and final phase of polling in Assam, Mr Ajmal said, “We approached the Congress to come to some understanding. But the party rejected our offer.”

He said the Congress was hellbent on dividing the secular vote. “Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav also formed a grand alliance of all the secular forces but unfortunately the Congress rejected our proposal.”

The AIUDF had initially hoping to increase its tally from the present 18 with a vote share of 12.57 per cent. Out of the total 126 seats, the Congress, with a vote share of 39.39 per cent, had won 78 seats in 2011.

While the BJP had bagged five seats and its vote share stood at 11.47 per cent, the AGP won 10 seats and secured a vote share of 16.29 per cent in the 2011 Assembly polls.

However, the BJP had emerged as a strong player in Assam in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when it bagged seven of the 14 parliamentary seats with an impressive vote share of 36.5 per cent.

The Congress and Mr Ajmal’s party won three seats each.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had opposed any alliance with Mr Ajmal’s party on the grounds that a tieup with a “communal oufit” like the AIUDF will benefit the BJP.

Mr Gogoi was of view that the Congress would lose the Hindu majority vote if it entered into any kind of alliance with the AIUDF.