Assam: 15 opposition parties to prepare state-specific common minimum programme by November for 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Fifteen opposition parties in Assam will prepare a state-specific common minimum programme by November for the Lok Sabha polls next year, a senior Congress leader said. The decision was taken at a meeting of 13 opposition parties under the banner of United Opposition Forum Assam, formed in the line of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), here. Two more parties have decided to join the regional bloc. “The unity that we have shown is not only for 2024. This alliance in Assam will continue in the 2026 Assembly polls and thereafter,” Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah told reporters after the meeting on Thursday. The opposition parties discussed “preliminary strategies” to defeat the BJP-led alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said. “State TMC president Ripun Bora will prepare the draft of a common minimum programme for Assam by the third week of November. A chargesheet against BJP’s propaganda and corruption will be prepared by Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan and Deputy Leader of Congress Legislature Party Rakibul Hussain,” Borah said. All the parties decided to raise the allegations of corruption against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his family members in every part of the state in the coming days, besides building public opinion against price rise and other crucial issues, he said. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president said that the state unit of Shiv Sena (UT) and Karbi Anglong-based APHLC have decided to join the bloc and they will be present in the next sitting of the regional alliance. Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “There will be one common opposition candidate against every BJP nominee in the polls. Our meetings will be held at different Lok Sabha constituencies to evaluate the ground situation there.” The next meeting of the alliance will be held in Dibrugarh in November, he added. Assam has 14 Lok Sabha constituencies and 126 Assembly seats, besides seven Rajya Sabha berths. When asked how 15 parties will be accommodated in 14 seats, CPI(M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar said: “All parties will not contest the polls and nobody will demand anything. Our aim is to defeat BJP and its allies.” Rajya Sabha MP Bhuyan said that the opposition bloc would do “everything possible to safeguard” democracy and the country. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said, “If the BJP succeeds in forming the government again in 2024, there is immense possibility that the country will be transformed into a dictatorial and religious fundamentalist state.” To prevent the BJP from returning to power, the Raijor Dal has decided not to contest the general elections from any constituency of Assam and will fully support the candidates of the opposition alliance in the 14 Lok Sabha seats of the state, he said. Leaders from United Opposition Forum Assam, comprising Congress, AJP, CPI(M), Raijor Dal, CPI, Jatiya Dal-Asom, NCP, RJD, Janata Dal (U), TMC, CPI(ML), AAP and AIFB, took part in Thursday’s deliberations.