5 seats ‘spared’ for Congress by AIUDF

Guwahati: In what may help the Congress in a big way, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has decided not to field candidates in five of eight seats the party had decided to contest. The party, led by perfume baron-turned-politician Badruddin Ajmal, will field candidates only in Dhubri, Karimganj and Barpeta. “We have decided we won’t contest beyond three seats. Our main concern is to stop the division of secular votes, which will give the BJP an advantage. Our sole aim is to stop the BJP,” AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam said.

He was, however, tightlipped about any understanding with the Congress. Though the Congress has denied any tacit understanding with AIUDF, the party has reciprocated over the AIUDF decision by fielding weak, unknown faces as candidates from Dhubri and Brapeta seats. The Congress is considering fielding a former NCP leader, Abdul Aziz, from Dhubri. The AIUDF’s announcement on Monday evening that it would contest only from Dhubri, Karimganj and Barpeta and leave the remaining seats to the Congress in order to avoid triangular contests presents another challenge for the BJP. Triangular contests between the BJP, Congress and AIUDF would have led to the division of anti-BJP and minority votes and improved the BJP’s chances at the hustings.

The BJP and its ally, Asom Gana Parishad, lashed out at the “unholy nexus” between the AIUDF and the Congress. “Earlier, the AIUDF said that it would field candidates in all constituencies where there is a substantial minority voter base. This sudden change of plans makes it clear the AIUDF and Congress have entered an understanding,” said Ranjeet Kumar Dass, head of the BJP’s Assam unit. “It won’t help either party. The people of Assam don’t want politics here to centre around just one community.”

While the AIUDF rejected claims of an electoral understanding, the Congress said the AIUDF decision was a sign of its “weakness”. “Had the AIUDF been strong enough, it would not have come closer to the Congress,” said former chief minister Tarun Gogoi. On Saturday, AIUDF president Ajmal made an appeal to the Congress to join hands in the fight against the BJP. While the AIUDF did well in the 2006 and 2011 Assembly elections, in 2016 it won just 13 seats and was nearly obliterated in the recent panchayat polls in the state.