Akhil Gogoi rejects Trinamool’s merger offer

GUWAHATI: Peasant leader and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi has turned down Trinamool Congress’s offer of a merger.
Akhil, at a news conference here on Sunday, said he discussed the prospects of a merger between Raijor Dal and TMC with Prashant Kishor recently but refused to take charge of TMC’s state unit. He said discussions were held thrice with the TMC leadership in Kolkata recently.
“Raijor Dal has been in talks with Trinamool Congress for a long time. I had three rounds of formal discussions with Trinamool leaders, where their key election strategist Prashant Kishor was also present,” Akhil said.
Though he did not divulge the details of the discussions, Akhil said he went to Kolkata last time for the talks on Friday. After two days of discussions, he returned to Guwahati on Saturday evening. “TMC’s direct proposal is that Raijor Dal should merge with their party forever. Mamata Banerjee’s proposal is that I should take the lead and assume the charge of the TMC’s Assam state commiiteee as its president,” said Akhil.
He, however, said Raijor Dal has not yet accepted the proposal but expressed readiness to build a united front with TMC. “We want to work in coordination with TMC to give rise to a common platform of regional parties in India to defeat the BJP. I don’t have the ambition of becoming Trinamool’s president,” Akhil said, expressing willingness to join hands with parties like the DMK and Shiv Sena to decide on the future prime ministerial candidate for 2024.
“By portraying Mamata Banerjee as the prime ministerial candidate, a confederation of regional forces can carry forward the talks with the Congress and Left parties. Our efforts are on on these lines to outst the BJP and RSS,” he added.
In Assam, Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF is the only obstacle that has been hindering an alliance of a Congress-led Mahajot with Raijor Dal. Akhil has criticised the AIUDF as a communal party of Muslims, as he continued to lambast the BJP for resorting to communal politics revolving around Hindus.
A Congress delegation headed by the working presidents of the Congress’s Assam unit, Rana Goswami and Jakir Hussain Sikdar, met Akhil and other senior leaders of the party at Raijor Dal office here on Sunday evening to strengthen ties between anti-BJP parties. “Being anti-BJP and anti-AIUDF is our policy. There cannot be any compromise with it,” Akhil said.
“Nothing is permanent in politics. AIUDF may not be a part of a Congress-led alliance tomorrow. If the AIUDF stays with the Congress, we cannot be a part of their alliance,” he said, claiming that a section of Congress legislators want the grand old party to snap ties with AIUDF.
Raijor Dal is pulling out all stops win over Muslim votebanks of the AIUDF. Akhil had alleged that Ajmal’s party had failed to address the NRC, “D” (doubtful) voter and detention camp issues that a large number of Muslims have been facing.
Meanwhile, the incumbent state committee of the TMC is still in the dark regarding the political developments in Kolkata. President (in-charge) of TMC’s Assam unit, Gopi Nath Das, told TOI that they have been kept out of the loop from the ongoing discussions. Despite the existence of 17 district committees of the party, the TMC failed to make any impression in the 2021 Assam election where it mainly focussed on minority-inhabited areas in lower Assam and Barak Valley. “We are hopeful that the TMC will scale new heights in Assam politics soon. Our party is going to be an alternative to the Congress and AIUDF, especially in the minority belt in Assam. Let’s wait for two more years,” he said.