AJP puts poll outcome behind; pledges to reinforce party

 

 

GUWAHATI, May 5: Regional political party, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) on Thursday put the party’s “failure” to bag a single seat on its electoral debut behind and pledged to strengthen the party into a formidable regional force in the coming years.

Addressing reporters here on Thursday, AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “We respect the people’s mandate and seek their blessings in our future political journey as we pledge to move ahead with our ‘Assam first, always and ever mantra’…We will continue to pursue our commitments.”

“However, a review of the causes of our inability to put up a show in the polls would be done soon even as 100 days was not enough for the party to make a mark in the elections,” said Gogoi, who had contested two seats, Duliajan and Naharkatia, in the recently concluded Assembly polls but failed to win any.

The AJP president further said that the organisational aspects of the party would be analysed to find out the areas and electorate that could be reached and touched before the polls.

“Our improvement as a regional political party of Assam will be a continuous process in the coming five years as we prepare for the panchayat, Lok Sabha and finally the 2026 Assembly polls,” Gogoi said.

“However, we once again clarify that the AJP believes in uncompromising Assamese nationalism (jatiyotabad), which is the only alternative, and that we will always maintain equi-distance from national political parties and communal political parties,” he asserted.

Countering the Congress’ claims that regional parties like AJP and Raijor Dal had facilitated BJP’s victory in many seats in Upper Assam, the AJP president said that the Congress took the help of a communal force to defeat another communal force but eventually got their arithmetic wrong.

He further congratulated Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi for his triumph despite contesting the polls from jail. “We hope that he takes the aspirations of the people of Assam forward to the floor of the Assembly,” he added.

AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan said that the “100-day-old party fought against the 100-year-old Congress, 41-year-old BJP in the polls and managed to get about seven lakh votes with a vote share between 12 and 16 percent in five districts of the state. We are ever grateful to the people for their support to the party.”