Gogoi meets his match in Ajmol

Days after Tarun Gogoi's claims, AUDF chief has said that 10 Cong MLAs would join his party once results are out.

Five days after chief minister Tarun Gogoi vowed to break the newly constituted Asom United Democratic Party (AUDF) to form a Congress government, party chief Moulana Badaruddin Ajmol sprung a nasty surprise.

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Ten Congress MLAs, Ajmol said on Thursday, would join his party once the election results are out.

Instead of making plans of splitting the AUDF, Gogoi better watch his flock, Ajmol said.

He claimed minority candidates from Congress, who have a fair chance of winning, are unhappy with the party high command's policies and 10 Congress MLAs would join the AUDF after the poll result.

"The Congress has betrayed the minority community for the last 60 years. This poll will decide the fate of the community in Assam," said Ajmol.

The AUDF chief predicted his party would win 35 seats and play a major role in forming a non-Congress non-BJP government in the state.

The Congress faces a tough challenge from the AUDF in 30 constituencies in Brahmaputra Valley and in 5 constituencies in Barak valley.

In the 1991 and 2001 elections, the Jamiat had supported the Congress.

Result, a near sweep in seven districts of lower and central Assam. But the emergence of the AUDF has upset the calculations of Congress, a party which has for long nursed the Muslim votebank.