Guwahati: The alliance of Congress and AIUDF failed in the first test ahead of the Assam assembly elections, with a near whitewash. The alliance partners fielded 20 candidates each in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections but only Congress could win one seat.
After a complete defeat in BTC, Congress Mariani MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi told News Live that his party has proved to be a “big loser” in the BTC polls and the state leadership should learn a lesson from this defeat.
“Because of our tie-up with AIUDF, they could not win a single seat and left us in a bad position. We are a big loser and shouldn’t have formed an alliance with AIUDF. This factor was well utilized by BJP — polarisation of non-Bodo votes and diversion of Muslim votes was their strategy. The Congress state leadership should take a lesson from BTC polls,” said Kurmi.
Kurmi also added, “We are really ashamed of our performance at the BTC Election and we accept our defeat. I have always opposed the alliance between Congress and AIUDF and in the future, too, I am definitely not going to support this alliance”.
The legislator said that the Congress-AIUDF alliance would be rejected in Upper Assam. On the other hand, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Ripun Bora commented that he is positive of winning one seat in the BTC Election.
“It’s a positive sign for our party. We haven’t contested elections in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) from last 20 years but still managed to win one seat so I will take it as a good and positive sign for us,” said Ripun Bora.
