Guwahati: The Congress high command is in talks with All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supremo Badruddin Ajmal for an understanding with him before the Lok Sabha elections over fielding of candidates in seats where AIUDF could hamper the prospects of Congress, according to sources in the Congress camp.
The unusual delay in announcement of candidates’ list by AIUDF in Assam has lent credence to this possibility. At a time when most of the parties in Assam have declared most of their candidates, AIUDF appears to be playing a waiting game.
Among the seats where AIUDUF could play a key role were Karimganj, Silchar, Dhubri, Kaliabor, Nagaon, Bapeta and even Guwahati. In the last Lok Sabha elections AIUDF candidate got more than 150,000 votes in the Guwahati constituency.
Congress is not comfortable with the idea of fighting AIUDF in minority-dominated areas covering six to -seven Lok Sabha seats, where a split in minority votes might help the Opposition, observers say.
Ajmal had to eat the humble pie in the Rajya Sabha elections in Assam where the AIUDF-backed candidate had to concede defeat as a few of the legislators supposed to vote for him were allegedly “managed” by the ruling Congress.
This time around Ajmal is playing a waiting game and bargaining with different parties to get a better deal for AIUDF, sources say. The Samajwadi Party could also be on his radar.
“Barring BJP, we are willing to align with any secular party,” he added. Refusing to divulge his poll strategy, Ajmal said he would watch the move of Congress before finalizing his list of candidates. If an alliance with the Congress did not work out, he was determined to put up a tough fight in most of the seats. He particularly singled out the Kaliabor Lok Sabha seat, where Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son Gaurav Gogoi is likely to be fielded.
A senior Congress leader said, however, that Congress was not keen on joining hands with AIUDF because there had been a perceptible change in thinking among the Muslims in Assam after BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s Guwahati rally. The Muslims in Assam had become panicky and they were now thinking of supporting the Congress because it was the only party which could take on Modi at the national level, not the AIUDF, he argued.
