NEW DELHI: Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Monday announced that it will contest from only the three Lok Sabha constituencies out of 14, in Assam to “stop division of secular votes”.
“Our aim is to stop the BJP. So we have decided to contest only the seats which we had won last time,” said Islam, general secretary of AIUDF.
Ajmal, also the sitting MP from Dhubri also denied any understanding or alliance between the party and the Congress.
Islam said, “We have no understanding or alliance with the Congress… The Congress has already announced its candidate for Karimganj. That clearly demonstrates that we are not together… If we contest greater number of seats, then the Congress alleges that we have a tie-up with the BJP. And if we contest less number of seats, then the BJP alleges that we have an understanding with the Congress.”
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP lost no time in accusing the Congress and AIUDF.
BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday said that there is an “unholy nexus” between the Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in Assam but the state’s people will reject it.
“An unholy alliance of Congress and the AIUDF is trying to fight the BJP. We believe that this unholy alliance will be rejected by the people of Assam,” Madhav said at a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Guwahati.
He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting in 18 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the northeast while the rest have been left for their allies.
“The Congress does not have the courage and strength to face the BJP. That is the reason they are having an unholy alliance with the AIUDF,” he said adding that the BJP alliance in the region will do good in the Lok Sabha polls.
With agency inputs