Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Raijor Dal (RD), two regional parties formed last year, are inching closer to a pre-poll alliance for the assembly elections due April-May this year.
Both the parties are offshoots of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests that rocked the state in December 2019 and claimed five lives.
While AJP was launched by student organisations All Assam Students Union and Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad, RD was formed by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, a farmers’ body led by activist Akhil Gogoi who is in jail since December 2019 for his role in the anti-CAA protests.
On Sunday, RD officially sent a letter to AJP seeking an alliance to form a regional front against BJP and other national parties like the Congress.
“We have sent an official letter to AJP for an alliance. The letter has been received by AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi. We urge them to give the matter topmost priority so that we can meet and discuss issues soon,” RD’s working president Bhasco De Saikia told journalists.
He expressed confidence that RD chief Akhil Gogoi would soon be released from jail to lead the party’s poll campaign. Gogoi is likely to contest from the Sivasagar and Teok assembly seats.
{{/usCountry}}He expressed confidence that RD chief Akhil Gogoi would soon be released from jail to lead the party’s poll campaign. Gogoi is likely to contest from the Sivasagar and Teok assembly seats.
{{/usCountry}}“We have already indicated that there would be an alliance among regional parties, including ours and RD, even if there’s no official letter. We will soon have talks and take the process forward,” AJP president Gogoi told journalists on Sunday.
He stated that AJP would have to alliance with opposition Congress and appealed to all regional parties without any communal agenda to join forces and defeat the ruling BJP.
Meanwhile, BJP is likely to continue its alliance with Asom Gana Parishad and have a new tie-up with United Peoples’ Party Liberal, which is leading the ruling coalition in Bodoland Territorial Council.
On the other hand, the Congress, which lost two of its sitting MLAs to BJP last month, is yet to formalise its alliance with All India United Democratic Front or finalise seat-sharing arrangements with any regional outfit.