Disappointed at Congress's "betrayal" by fielding candidates against his party nominees, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal has claimed that the Muslim leadership in the Assam unit of the grand old party has thwarted a possible alliance with the AIUDF.
With the Congress now contesting from Karimganj, Barpeta and Dhubri Lok Sabha constituencies, there is a "strong possibility" of a division of anti-BJP votes in these seats, Ajmal told PTI in an interview.
On the reason behind the Congress action, he said, the Muslim leaders of the party's state unit thought their future would "be finished" if an understanding was reached.
The AIUDF will contest from Dhubri, Barpeta and Karimganj, from where it has three sitting MPs, sharply lower from the 10 candidates it had put up in the 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.
The Congress is fighting from all the constituencies this time.
Ajmal, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from Dhubri and a perfume baron, alleged that the "only intention" of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) was to "finish off" the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which has been with the UPA for the last 10 years and the 'Mahagathbandhan' in 2019.
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"The sole motto of the Congress is to finish the AIUDF. The Muslim leadership of the Congress did not want the AIUDF and the Congress to get united at all. If that happened, their political future would have been finished," the former MLA said.
Admitting that anti-BJP votes were likely to get divided, the AIUDF chief sounded confident that his party would be able to retain the three seats in the 2019 elections, but "may be with smaller margins".
"If the BJP is our number one enemy, then the Congress is number two. We have sacrificed our seats for secularism. We do not have any intention to help the Congress. We took a decision for the Assamese language, culture, identity and overall scenario.
"We wanted the Congress also to sacrifice like us by not putting up candidates in the three seats. In that way, we would have won the three, Congress seven and BJP... one or two seats. We were determined not to give a single seat to the BJP," Ajmal said.
Stating that he has been seeking time from Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the last one month to have a discussion about the alliance, he regretted that his request went unheeded, even as the AIUDF was with the UPA for the last 10 years.
The Congress could have informed him in a "friendly" manner that the alliance was not possible, the AIUDF leader said.
"They have formed alliance with the smallest of the small parties like Hemant Soren's JMM in Jharkhand for two seats... I wanted the alliance with the Congress in Assam. Even today, I want it, but Assam Congress is not in favour of us. They spoiled the entire environment by speaking unwanted things," he said.
Asked about the reason for APCC's "rigidity" towards an alliance, Ajmal said, "The Congress and the AIUDF have a secular vote base. Besides, the minority votes are also shared by both. My issue is that the Congress should announce whether the BJP is their bigger enemy or the AIUDF. Their entire strength and campaign are not against the BJP."
On the party's prospects in 2019 polls, the AIUDF chief said, "The way BJP's popularity is decreasing across India, they (Narendra Modi and Amit Shah) should have resigned after the last assembly polls (in five states in 2018)."