GUWAHATI: All India Congress Committee (AICC) has expressed confidence that it will form the government in the state after the elections are held next year.
AICC general secretary and Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh on Thursday said unlike Bihar, Assam remains a Congress stronghold and suggested that its alliance partners won’t be allotted “more seats” during the seat-sharing agreement.
According to him, the final alliance pact with AIUDF will largely depend on the willingness of Congress workers in the state, rather than AICC imposing it from the top. According to Congress insiders, this is an indication that Congress is not ready to sacrifice “more seats” in minority-dominated areas to AIUDF where perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal may bargain harder, citing the trend in Bihar, where the grand alliance lost due to poor performance of Congress in most seats where they fielded candidates.
“There is a day and night difference between Bihar and Assam as far as Congress is concerned. The two states cannot be compared in terms of alliances. Definitely Congress is much stronger in Assam than Bihar. Congress is sure of winning the 2021 Assam elections, but the possibility of making any alliance, including with AIUDF, or any other party will depend on what the Congress workers, leaders and people on the alliance want,” Singh told TOI on Thursday.
Singh also admitted that the alliance with AIUDF may be finalised only after his assessment of the “political reality” of poll-bound Assam during his second tour to the state in a month, likely towards November-end. He said the feedback of Congress workers and leaders of Assam on the alliance will be submitted before the party high command in Delhi and then only the alliance can be finalised.
Sources in Congress said even as Ajmal has of late been more keen on joining hands with Congress, the stand of the party’s high command continues to be unclear.
“Congress is not only banking on the AIUDF to win the Assam elections. If Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) loses the ensuing BTC polls, there is every possibility that BJP will snap all ties with them before the assembly election and a situation will arise when they (BPF) will have the only option to join the Congress-led alliance,” a senior Congress leader said, requesting anonymity.
He further added that Congress was relying more on forming coalition with Left and regional forces, including influential organizations representing the Mishings and Rabhas. “In the first part of December, we are expecting a broader picture of Congress alliances but we are unlikely to sacrifice more seats to other partners on the ground that our party did not perform upto the mark in Bihar. Assam's sentiment, culture and issues does not match with that of Bihar,” the Congress insider said.