 "Congress no longer reliable: AIUDF Rafiqul Islam on fighting LS 2024 alone")
Contrary to the political call for 'unified Opposition' to fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) announced to contest alone in the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held in 2024.
The party announced to contest for some of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam alone, stating that Congress is "no longer a reliable" party.
AIUDF MLA and party General Secretary Rafiqul Islam told ANI that the party's final decision is yet to be made, but it has been discussed in the party platform to contest for at least seven to eight seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in the state.
"Now we are preparing for the general election alone. Earlier, except one election, we had fought all the elections alone. We fought the previous Assam assembly election by joining hands with Congress and a few other opposition parties," Rafiqul Islam said.
"Since 2006, we are fighting the elections alone. In the 2014 general election, we won three seats-- Karimganj, Barpeta, and Dhubri, and in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, our party supremo Badruddin Ajmal won the Dhubri seat. This time, we are trying to register a victory at atleast three seats and we have targeted five-six more," Rafiqul Islam said.
He further said that the party is preparing to fight in these seats and the final decision will be taken in the party's core committee meeting.
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Rafiqul Islam also mentioned that despite the parties' call for unity to fight against BJP, they are not united.
"If the Congress party will fight against AIUDF in Assam, Mamata in West Bengal, Kejriwal in Delhi, and KCR in Telanga, then BJP will be benefitted. Congress should change its character. To fight against BJP, it should sacrifice this and go with the opposition parties," he said.
Hitting out at Congress, the AIUDF MLA also said that Assam Congress has repeatedly betrayed AIUDF and is therefore no longer a reliable party.
"In the last assembly election in Assam, Congress' seats went up only because of AIUDF. Soon after the elections, it ended the alliance with AIUDF and even in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Congress was benefitted with two seats of Kaliabor and Nagaon only because of the AIUDF," he added.
He said since the Congress is no longer a reliable party, it is preparing to contest upcoming general elections alone.