The anti-Congress alliance in Assam on Saturday said that the people of Assam have accepted the alliance as an alternative against misrule of the ruling party and that the party will be uprooted from Assam in the forthcoming polls.
Addressing a joint Press conference at Guwahati, the BJP-Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)-Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) alliance in Assam appealed to all the party members to put in efforts to ensure that their candidates win in their respective constituencies with a majority.
While the BJP is contesting in 88 seats, the AGP is contesting in 24 seats and BPF, which is ruling the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC)-which runs administration in four district of Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts in Assam-is contesting in 14 seats out of the total 126 Assembly constituencies in Assam.
“We have come together with the sole intention of not only defeating the Congress in Assam in the forthcoming polls but to make sure that the people uproot that Congress from Assam. People are frustrated due to the 15 years of misrule of the Congress and it is with this intention that we have decided to contest the polls together,” said AGP president Atul Bora.
He admitted that there are differences among them but those are not such, which cannot be sorted out. “Yes there are differences in our ideologies but we are confident that those differences can be sorted out,” Bora said while appealing all the party members to ensure the victory of all the candidates put up by the three parties in their respective constituencies.
Bora’s appeal assumes significance as the alliance had led to splits in AGP and BJP. While the disgruntled workers of the AGP floated a new front, AGP Regional Forum, the BJP workers unhappy over the alliance have formed a new party, Trinamool BJP. With the factions deciding to put up candidates in some constituencies, there is possibility that the AGP and BJP vote banks divide further for the benefit of the Congress and other parties.
BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal said that the alliance has already emerged as a strong alternative to the ruling Congress in Assam and added that an alternate Government can only bring the much needed change to Assam and develop the state all round.