Guwahati, Oct 23: In a significant setback to the Opposition alliance in Assam ahead of the November 13 by-polls, Asom Sonmilito Morcha (ASOM) president Bhupen Kumar Borah has resigned from his position citing “tremendous pressure” within the alliance to resolve the stalemate regarding the nomination for the Behali legislative Assembly seat, where ally CPI (ML) has staked claim for candidature.
While Congress has already announced candidates for four seats – Dholai, Samaguri, Bongaigaon and Sidli – the impasse over the candidature for Behali within the Sonmolito Morcha, formerly known as United Opposition Forum, Assam, continued till Wednesday evening.
Notably, the last date of filing of nominations for the by-polls has been scheduled on October 25.
It may be mentioned that a key meeting of the Opposition alliance, in the presence of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and secretary in-charge, Assam was held here last Friday, wherein a proposal was put forward by the AICC general secretary to constitute a five-member committee.
The AICC general secretary had assured that the recommendation of the committee regarding nomination for Behali LAC would be accepted. However, till Wednesday evening, the recommendation of the five-member committee (to field a candidate from CPI-ML) had not been accepted by the AICC general secretary.
“I have been trying to persuade the five-member committee to re-consider its recommendation, but they have refused to do so and are demanding immediate confirmation from the AICC. Under the tremendous pressure on me to make the decision enforced, which I am not able to execute, I have no alternative other than tendering my resignation as president of the Opposition unity in Assam,” Borah stated in his resignation letter.
Borah’s resignation as the Opposition alliance’s president has brought about uncertainty within the alliance’s preparations for not just the by-polls, which are less than a month away, but for the Assam Assembly elections, which are just a year and half away.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Sonmolito Morcha’s general secretary, Lurinjyoti Gogoi asserted that unity within the alliance was the basic principle of the Morcha.
“We should maintain unity as one or two percent vote share matters. We are waiting for a final decision from Congress. They (Congress) had proposed that the candidate of CPI (ML) should be changed even as we had given them our best suggestion,” Gogoi said.
Asom Sonmilito Morcha is a political alliance of 16 parties in Assam.