BJP leader shares party's strategy for Assam polls, slams Congress' tie-up with AIUDF

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) leader Baijayant Panda on Friday lashed out at Congress party for forming an alliance with Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) for the upcoming Assam assembly election. Panda, the BJP's Assam in-charge, also criticised Congress’s coalition with Indian Secular Front (ISF) in Bengal, claiming that senior Congress leaders are voicing disapproval against this “blatant hypocrisy”.

“Alliance between Congress and AIUDF is blatantly communal. Late Tarun Gogoi ji took great pains to avoid AIUDF like plague. In Bengal too, Congress has tied up with an Islamist communal party. Congress leaders are now speaking out against this kind of blatant hypocrisy,” Panda was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Talking about the BJP's strategy for the Assam election, Panda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have planned multiple campaign visits in the poll-bound state. Panda added that PM Modi has visited the state a total of almost 45 times in the last six years, unlike any other predecessor before him.

“Both home minister and the Prime Minister will be visiting Assam multiple times for campaigning. It's a very important and largest state in the Northeast. In the last six years or so, PM Modi has visited Northeast almost 45 times. It's a huge number compared to earlier prime ministers,” ANI quoted Panda as saying.

The Congress has allied with AIUDF, the CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha, and Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF), to fight the assembly elections in Assam.

The Congress, meanwhile, defended its decision to include AIUDF in the coalition, stating that BJP’s past coalition with People’s Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir, which does not accept India’s flag, does not offer it much room for criticising Congress in Assam.

“The BJP people aligned with the PDP which does not accept the Indian flag. Aligning with that party is not an offence, but the Congress aligning with the AIUDF in Assam is an offence,” Congress’ Assam unit chief Ripun Bora told news agency PTI.

Watch | ‘Will throw out BJP from Assam,’ says AIUDF; BJP says alliance is ‘communal

Assam is slated to go for a three-phased assembly election from March 27 to April 6 with results expected on May 2. The entry of two regional parties born during the anti-CAA movement, the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) formed by former members of All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and jailed activist Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dol, has turned the electoral battle into a triangulated contest.