7 MLAs to leave AIUDF after LS poll results, Congress not to accept

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 26, 2024

The results of the Lok Sabha election is yet to be out, but seven All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) are set to revolt against the party leadership and leave the party soon after the announcement of the results of the elections.

The leadership of the AIUDF has already issued show cause notices to two of its MLAs Nizamuddin Choudhury (Algapur) and Suzan Uddin Laskar (Katlichera) for their helping hand to the Congress party during the Lok Sabha elections.

Notably, AIUDF president Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal recently announced that the party will issue show cause to another MLA after the results of the election are out on June 4.

Ajmal also said the party has already formed a committee to monitor the situation in this regard.

According to sources former Bilasipara MLA Shamsul Huda, Gauripur MLA Mizanur Rahman, Dalgaon MLA Mojibur Rahman and Dhubri MLA Nazrul Haque are looking for alternative options. 

However, a leader of the Assam Congress clarified that till now they do not have any plan to welcome AIUDF MLAs into the party.

Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah has already announced in the meeting of the internal assessment committee that there is no plan for the party to accept AIUDF leaders’ joining.

Pleading anonymity, the Congress leader said: “If they want to join they will put some condition. The condition is only one party ticket. But we can’t give them word, because we are committed to the leaders who have been working for the party during the crisis period. There is no question of their joining.”

Sources said the seven AIUDF MLAs are in close touch with Congres leaders. But they are eyeing the results of Lok Sabha elections to be announced on June 4.

“If India Bloc comes to power, they will approach Congress and if NDA retains power they will join Asam Gana Parishad (AGP),” said an AIUDF leader. 

“Everything will be finalized only after the results of the elections are out on June 4,” the leader also said.

As the internal assessment of the party indicated that the party will have a poor show in the election, leadership are now targeting some MLAs, who did not work for the party during elections.

“There is thin hope that the party would retain Dhubri. The results of Nagaon and Karimganaj will also be out of expectation,” the leader said who did not see the winning possibility of AIUDF in the election.

“The future of the party is dark if it can’t win a single seat in this election. So MLAs are looking for an alternative,” he said.

Many disgruntled leaders and workers of AIUDF have helped the congress party to win the elections. They believe that Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal is hand in glove with the saffron party to engineer a split in Congress votes through polarization and thus ensure a victory for the BJP.

“The AIUDF by deciding to contest in the seats has entered into a tacit understanding with the BJP to defeat the Congress candidates by ensuring the victory of the saffron party,” said a Congress leader.

“Ajmal has entered into a political game plan with the BJP, as they did in the last elections to defeat the Congress candidates. Minority people saw through their game plan to grab power by relegating their ideological differences to the backburner,” he said.

“If the AIUDF is for uniting Muslims to consolidate minority votes, the BJP is also propagating the Hindutva agenda of the RSS and uniting Hindus. Both parties have the same kind of strategy to polarise the electorate on religious lines. The AIUDF and the BJP are two sides of the same coin,” he also said.

“Now minority Muslims have seen the truth. They will not believe AIUDF or Ajmal. They have seen the role of Ajmal during the eviction drive conducted by the state government against Minority Muslims, including in Garukhuti. It is a good time for minority Muslims to alienate Ajmal and AIUDF,” he added.

However, AIUDF MLA Rafiqul Islam said there was propaganda that seven AIUDF MLAs would leave the party and join Congress. “It is not true that MLAs will leave the party. However, there are allegations against some MLAs for working for other parties. There are complaints against the MLAs. The AIUDF was strong before, is still strong and will remain so in the future,” Islam said.

Islam said that every member of the party led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal is working faithfully for the interest of the party.

The AIUDF is the third largest political party of Assam after the BJP and the Congress. It won 16 of the 126 seats in the Assam Assembly Elections in 2021. The party founder Badruddin Ajmal is its only Lok Sabha member from Dhubri constituency.