Opposition Congress, AIUDF battle loyalty issues in Assam as BJP sails through elections

Breaching the party stand seems to have become a habit for MLAs belonging to the two main Opposition parties in Assam: Congress and Badaruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF.

The alleged cross-voting during the elections for two Rajya Sabha members in March and the President's election on July 18 made the picture clearer when opposition MLAs voted for NDA candidates, contrary to the stand taken by their parties.

In the Rajya Sabha elections held for two members from Assam in March, the NDA candidates won easily even as the ruling alliance did not have the numbers for the second seat. Both Congress and AIUDF had blamed each other and alleged that their members cross-voted despite an understanding for voting for the candidates put up by the Opposition.

Also Read: Himanta claims 15-16 Assam Congress MLAs voted for NDA nominee in Prez poll

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday claimed that NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu received 104 votes even as the ruling alliance had 79 votes and two MLAs remained absent. He claimed that at least 15 to 16 Congress MLAs had voted for Murmu. This despite the fact that the Opposition parties in Assam had promised that all their votes would go to UPA candidate, Yashwant Sinha.

Since he became the CM in May last year, Sarma has several times claimed that he still has "MLA friends" in Congress. Sarma, who was a senior minister in Congress government led by late Tarun Gogoi for years, switched over to BJP along with a few other MLAs in August 2015, months before the Assembly elections. BJP wrested power from Congress in 2016 and retained power for the second term in May 2021. Several MLAs from Congress including ministers, who are believed to be Sarma's loyalists, also switched over to BJP.

President of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, Bhupen Borah told reporters in Guwahati on Saturday that six Congress MLAs cross-voted for Murmu. "There is nothing to hide. I will raise this with the party high command later this month. We can't stay with the pro-BJP MLAs and we must take a decision," he said.

Congress and AIUDF have 27 and 15 MLA respectively in the 126-member Assembly. Although AIUDF has not made any reaction to the CM's claim about cross voting, Congress leader, Gaurav Gogoi on Friday claimed that many AIUDF MLAs take Sarma's directive before casting their votes.