Assam Congress allies are like clubs, people hardly know them: Minister

Guwahati, May 1 Reacting to the Congress' efforts to unite opposition parties in Assam to take on the ruling BJP government, state Minister Pijush Hazarika said most of its allies were like small clubs and that people hardly knew them.

A recent meeting of 11 opposition parties, including the Congress, planned for a mega show of strength in Guwahati soon after the Karnataka Assembly elections were over.

However, Hazarika said that this grand alliance is not at all capable of putting up a strong fight against the BJP. Hazarika

"The parties which are forging alliance with the Congress have no acceptance among the voters. People do not even know them. Nobody is aware about the office bearers of those parties. All 10 alliance partners of Congress party combined have only one MLA and one MP," he said.

"Why should we take them seriously?"

The opposition meeting however, did not invite the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).

Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora has made it clear that they do not want AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal into their fold.

Bora alleged that Ajmal helped the BJP consolidate Hindu votes in the last Assembly elections by issuing provocative statements during the poll campaign.

Congress had forged a grand alliance with the AIUDF and fought the last elections together. But after the alliance failed to overthrow the BJP from power in the state, the relationship between the two parties became sore.

Aminul Islam, an AIUDF MLA, said that Congress has fallen into the BJP's trap and keeping away the party from the alliance will only help the BJP to win in the elections.

Hazarika however, turned down this narrative and said: "The animosity between Congress and AIUDF is an utter falsehood. They have a pact and this antipathy is only to fool the voters."

tdr/ksk/