No alliance with AIUDF for Assam assembly polls: Gaurav

Guwahati, Dec 16 (PTI) Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday described the AIUDF as a "communal" outfit and said there will be no alliance with the opposition party in the 2026 assembly elections.

Already, eight opposition parties have decided to contest next year's assembly polls unitedly to defeat the ruling BJP in the state.

"There will be no alliance with the AIUDF under any circumstances. It is also a communal party like the ruling BJP. We cannot join hands with one communal force to defeat another similar force," Gogoi told reporters here.

The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) was a constituent of the Congress-led grand alliance in the 2021 assembly elections in Assam. However, the two parties parted away after Congress' former state chief Bhupen Kumar Borah took charge.

On opposition unity, Gogoi said such matters are not discussed in front of cameras but are taken forward "through off-camera discussions".

"Only after discussions are concluded we can say anything officially regarding alliances. The upcoming elections will not be easy for the BJP," he added.

Last month, Congress, CPI(M), Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPI, CPI(ML), Jatiya Dal-Asom (JDA) and Karbi Anglong-based All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) joined hands to fight the assembly elections from a common platform.

The Assam Assembly elections to 126 constituencies are likely to take place in March-April next year.

Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and the BPF has three members.

In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 legislators, AIUDF has 15 members, and CPI(M) has one. There is one Independent legislator also.

"The BJP has already seen that under the present leadership, its prospects are not very good. The top leadership is aware that genuine BJP workers are becoming disillusioned with the party. Ministers and a few close associates have benefited, but party workers have gained nothing," Gogoi claimed.

Roads in front of BJP workers' houses remain incomplete, people in "areas where BJP activists live do not have access to drinking water" and "government schools in villages inhabited by BJP workers are in a deplorable condition", he alleged.

"BJP workers have also realised that CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has been running the party according to his own interests and along with a few close associates," the Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha claimed.

Responding to a question regarding allegations of the Congress being pro-Miya, he said people, who love Assam and cherish its land, air and water, have been joining the party since last April.

"A look at the kind of people who have joined the Congress during this period clearly exposes such allegations as baseless and ridiculous," Gogoi claimed.

'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance. PTI TR TR BDC