The Congress party has set its election ball rolling for the Assam Assembly Elections, with meetings and review sessions of the Screening Committee set to start on Saturday. However, alliance partners are uneasy about the ambiguity, as they believe it is already too late to launch groundwork.
“The Assam Jatiya Parishad still maintains a good rapport with the Congress. The problem is seemingly with the Raijor Dal, headed by Akhil Gogoi. He wants more seats in Muslim areas where it will be difficult for the party to negotiate beyond a certain point,” said a former legislator of Congress in Assam.
The allies of Congress want it to take along each partner, coordinate well with them and accommodate all opposition allies to create a solid front against the BJP.
Notably, Akhil Gogoi’s public meetings are seeing Muslims coming out in droves, thanks to his vocal anti-Himanta Biswa Sarma stance, where he repeatedly talks about the BJP's divisive approach to win elections as well as its ideology.
Political observers believe that Gogoi should ideally focus more on Upper Assam, considering that he is from the region, where the Opposition is weak, and is an indigenous resident of the state. However, Gogoi is driving towards an electorate that is more responsive to his party, putting the Congress in a fix on Muslim seats.
“They are all trying to campaign in Muslim areas, which may perhaps prove counterproductive, as these areas are already going to vote for the Opposition. The strategy should have been to consolidate the Opposition in areas where it is weak but has prospects of winning,” says Nazrul Hoque, AIUDF’s Dubri MLA. The AIUDF is expected to contest alone in the upcoming elections.
The Congress has tweaked its earlier seat-sharing formula, according to party insiders. Leaders say that while the party was earlier ready to give both alliance partners, Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad, around seven seats each, it is now willing to offer 11 seats to each party. This includes eight of their choice and the remaining three of the Congress’s choice. Other parties are likely to get seats in single digits.
Gaurav Gogoi, who holds multiple positions such as Deputy Leader of the Opposition, president of the Assam unit, and head of the election management committee, was also responsible for alliance talks. The responsibility has, however, now been delegated to former Assam unit president Bhupen Kumar Bora, who is expected to negotiate with the party’s alliance partners.
Congress insiders believe there was too much load and too many responsibilities on Gaurav Gogoi, which led to discontent among the party rank and file. There was a general sentiment that he had not been able to devote enough time to cadre building or make efforts to unite the unit. Among alliance partners, too, there was unease, with a few leaders claiming that the Congress is not serious enough about alliance coordination, forcing regional leaders to put in extra effort to present the alliance as a solid front.
The Congress had already conveyed to alliance partners sometime back that it will move to seat sharing only after conducting surveys to assess who the popular candidates are on the ground and who can win the election for the party, following which the seat sharing and ticket distribution will take place.
