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RS polls: Despite war of words, Assam Oppn firm on support to Congress candidate
The Congress candidate’s election came under cloud with opposition parties accusing each other of possible cross-voting to benefit the BJP and allies.
GUWAHATI: Notwithstanding allegations and counter-allegations, opposition parties in Assam on Wednesday expressed commitment to support the Congress candidate for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state, voting for which will take place on Thursday.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its spokesperson Pabitra Margherita for one seat, the other one will be contested by its ruling partner United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) candidate Rwngwra Narzary.
The Congress has nominated former state unit chief Ripun Bora for one of the seats. After an understanding made earlier this month in Delhi, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) decided to support Bora. As a mark of opposition unity, he also has support of one MLA each from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), and Raijor Dal.
“All 26 Congress MLAs and one each from the CPI(M) and Raijor Dal will support Bora. AIUDF has also made it clear that all 15 of the MLAs will support Bora in Thursday’s polls. Based on this, we have a total of 43 votes, which is enough to win one seat,” Congress MLA and leader of opposition in assembly Debabrata Saikia said.
In Assam, a candidate needs at least 43 votes to get elected to Rajya Sabha. At present, BJP and its allies have 83 votes of the total 126 in the state assembly. The numbers are enough for Margherita to get elected, but falls short of 3 votes for Narzary to make it to the Upper House of parliament.
On the other hand, the Congress (26), AIUDF (15), CPI (M) and Raijor Dal have 43 votes in their kitty. One Congress MLA, who is under suspension, is expected to vote for the BJP and its allies. For the past few days intense parleys and lobbying have been on from both sides to ensure that their candidates get elected.
“We sealed a deal with the Congress on supporting their candidate for this election and in return they would vote for our candidate in the next RS polls. We stand committed to it and all 15 of our MLAs will vote for Bora on Thursday. Our party will issue a whip to our MLAs in this regard on Wednesday night,” AIUDF organising secretary Md. Aminul Islam said.
Raijor Dal president and Sivsagar MLA, Akhil Gogoi, also reiterated that he will vote for the Congress candidate.
Despite having the required numbers and an understanding among all opposition parties, Bora’s election came under cloud with the Congress and the AIUDF accusing each other of possible cross-voting to benefit the BJP and allies.
“I can guarantee that all 26 Congress MLAs and one legislator each from CPI (M) and Raijor Dal will vote for our candidate. But 5 MLAs from AIUDF have already got sold (to the BJP) and the party president Badruddin Ajmal is directly involved in the deal,” Congress state unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah alleged on Tuesday.
The allegation followed comments by Ajmal a few days back saying that five MLAs from the Congress could vote for the two candidates of BJP and UPPL in the Rajya Sabha election.
“We are astonished at the baseless allegations labelled by Congress. We were hearing that there’s a difference within the Congress on Bora’s selection as the candidate and some of their own leaders are working to defeat him. The immature accusations of the Congress state chief have confirmed this,” said Islam.
“The allegations and counter-allegations show that there’s no unity among opposition parties. BJP doesn’t indulge in unethical tactics of buying or selling votes to win elections. Our chief minister has good relations with many opposition MLAs and based on that we are sure of getting the required votes to ensure that both our candidates emerge victorious,” said BJP national general secretary and MP from Assam, Dilip Saikia.
