Assam polls: AIUDF will back a Congress CM, says Badruddin Ajmal

GUWAHATI: Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, chief of Assam’s minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), has reiterated he is not in the race for the chief minister’s chair if the Congress-led grand alliance of Opposition grabs power.

“I am very happy to hear from my friends in Upper Assam that the Congress-led #Mahajot has swept the first phase (polls). The lowest figure I am hearing from anyone is 30 seats. AIUDF looks forward to supporting a Congress Chief Minister after 2 May,” Ajmal tweeted on Sunday.

This is the second time that he asserted the CM candidate would be from the Congress if the Opposition alliance rises to power. His latest statement comes as Assam Minister and BJP’s face in the Northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is allegedly trying to polarize the voters by telling them that the AIUDF chief would become the Assam CM if the “Mahajot” grabs power.

Ajmal is viewed by his rivals and critics as a sympathizer of the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The AIUDF was floated in 2005 and most of its MLAs have been from the minority community.

Recently, Sarma had asserted that the BJP does not need the votes of the “Miyas” (Bengali-speaking Muslims), viewed the AIUDF’s vote-bank. Later, he revised the statement by stating “I don’t need the votes of the Miyas”. His Jalukbari constituency has a negligible number of Bengali-speaking Muslim voters.

The Congress-led grand alliance was formed with ten parties last month with the sole intention of ousting the BJP from power. The Congress-AIUDF alliance is expected to thwart the split of anti-BJP votes. In the 2016 elections, the Congress-AIUDF combine’s vote share was more than that of the winning candidates from either the BJP or the AGP in 14 of the state’s 126 seats.

The first phase elections on March 27 were held in 47 constituencies across Upper Assam and parts of Northern and Central Assam. The BJP-AGP combine had won 35 of the 47 seats in the last election. The Assamese-majority Upper Assam also has a sizeable population of tea garden workers.