Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi. File | Image source: PTI
The congressionally-led opposition coalition broke out before the two-stage Panchayat poll in May.
The coalition formed before the 2021 parliamentary poll shows signs of vulnerability during the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. Raijor Dal’s Master of President Akhil Gogoi accused some Congressional leaders of conspiring to get the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to sweep rural polls, especially in the Sivasagar area in the east of Assam.
Mr. Akhil Gogoi represents the Sivasagar Parliamentary Constituency, and Raijor Dal is one of the 16 voters in the Assam United Opposition Forum. The left front party is a component.
“Parliament has been helping us with the candidates in all six Zilla Parishads in Sivasagar, rather than helping us with a true alliance spirit. We have been insisting on competing separately rather than committing suicide as a unit, and we have been insisting on us committing suicide when the ruling party (BJP and ITS Allies) are better at coordinating.”
He also blamed Congressional Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi and Congress legislative leader Debabrata Saikia, who represented Nazira parliamentary constituency, plans to let the BJP sweep Panchayat polls because of leadership within the Big Old Party.
Sivasagar and Nazira are part of the Jorhat Lok Sabha seating.
President Raijor Dal said: “Parliamentary leadership told me that members of Congress want to undermine the coalition because state legislative president Bhupen Kumar Borah will make a profit if he does a good job.”
“Debabrata Saikia is said to have forgotten how our workers helped him win the 2021 poll,” he said.
“We cannot continue to tolerate stabbing. I am under tremendous pressure from the workers of the party,” he said.
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Mr. Borah responded with regret over his attempt to undermine the alliance. “We have been working hard to seriously strengthen the anti-BJP league, but the atmosphere of friendship is under pressure,” he said.
“Akhil Gogoi said that our two senior leaders are BJP agents. We do not want parties among others to prove our loyalty to our parties,” he said.
On April 18, the last date of the Panchayat poll was withdrawn, deeming 348 seats to be considered undisputed. The NDA, led by the BJP, received 325, followed by 15-year-old independents, nine out of nine, with the All-Indian Democratic Front as one.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said: “This is a huge and unprecedented mission in Assam’s political history. It reflects the huge trust and overwhelming love of the Assamians for the NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
The panchayats in Gram have 21,920 seats, 2,192 seats in Anchalik Parishads and 397 seats in Zilla Parishads. The polls were held in 27 of the 34 districts in Assam, as the autonomous tribal council ruled the remaining seven districts.
The votes for the Panchayat election will be held on May 11.
publishing – April 20, 2025 at 7:58 pm IST
