Contrary to the political call of a ‘unified opposition’ to fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has announced to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections alone. The party announced it would contest for some of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam alone, saying the Congress was “no longer a credible party”.
AIUDF MLA and party general secretary Rafikul Islam told news agency ANI that the party’s final decision is yet to be taken, but the party’s platform to contest at least seven to eight seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state has been discussed. .
Rafikul Islam said, ‘Now we alone are preparing for the general elections. Earlier, except for one election, we had fought all the elections alone. We had fought the last Assam Assembly elections by joining hands with the Congress and some other opposition parties.
Rafikul Islam said, “Since 2006, we are contesting elections alone. In the 2014 general election, we won three seats- Karimganj, Barpeta and Dhubri, and in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, party supremo Badruddin Ajmal won the Dhubri seat. This time we are trying to win at least three seats and we have set a target of five-six more seats.
Rafikul Islam further said that the party is preparing to fight on these seats and the final decision will be taken in the meeting of the party’s core committee. He also mentioned that despite the parties’ call for unity to fight against the BJP, they are not united.
The AIUDF MLA said, “If the Congress party fights against AIUDF in Assam, Mamata in West Bengal, Kejriwal in Delhi and KCR in Telangana, BJP will benefit.” Congress should change its character. To fight against the BJP, it should give up and go with the opposition parties.
Taking a dig at the Congress, Rafikul Islam also said that the Assam Congress has repeatedly betrayed the AIUDF. Hence no longer a credible party. “In the last assembly election in Assam, Congress seats have increased only because of AIUDF.
Islam said, “Soon after the election it ended the alliance with AIUDF and even in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Congress only gained in two seats, Kaliabor and Nagaon, because of AIUDF.”
