The Congress lost the election in Assam. The BJP gets a second term now
Guwahati:
The Assam Jariya Parishad and Raijor Dal, the two parties born out of the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the state, helped the BJP consolidate its position in Upper Assam, the Congress said on Monday, a day after the declaration of results for Assam elections in which they were handed a defeat by the BJP-led alliance.
The BJP-led alliance received 75 seats of which BJP alone had 60 seats, while the ally Asom Gana Parishad received nine and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) clinched six. The Congress-led alliance of 10 parties received 50 seats, of which Congress got 29, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) received 16, Bodoland People’s Front received four and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) received one.
In a media interaction at the Assam Congress headquarters in Guwahati on Monday, Assam Congress in-charge Jitendra Singh said, “It appears that the AJP and the Raijor Dal helped BJP consolidate its position in Upper Assam region.”
“AJP and Raijor Dal need to do some soul searching on how they ended up helping the very forces that they were seeking to oppose,” Mr Singh said.
Though only Akhil Gogoi, president of Raijor Dal, managed to clinch one seat from Sibsagar among a crowd of 120 candidates fielded together for the elections, according to Congress it had divided those votes that were cast by those who were opposed to the CAA.
Both the parties, Mr Gogoi-led Raijor Dol, a conglomerate of his Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and 60 other indigenous organisations and Lurinjyoti-led Assam Jatiya Parishad, that has the support of both AASU and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP), the state’s two largest students body, were formed after the CAA was passed in December 2019 and vouched to repeal it in the legislative level if voted to power.
“We are given the role of a responsible and strong opposition with about 50 seats in the house of 126. We shall strive to do our duty in the best interest of the people of Assam. We will continue to voice the challenges being faced by the people of Assam and will always fight for their rights,” Mr Singh said.
“The Congress party will also assist the government positively in mitigating the Covid pandemic challenge faced by the people of the state,” Mr Singh added.