AIUDF announces Badruddin Ajmal as Rajya Sabha candidate, seeks Congress support

Guwahati, Jan 10: The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Friday announced the candidature of its president Badruddin Ajmal for a forthcoming Rajya Sabha vacancy from Assam and sought the support of the Congress party in this regard.

The terms of three Rajya Sabha members of Assam – Bhubaneswar Kalita and Rameswar Teli of the BJP and Independent Ajit Kumar Bhuyan – will end on April 9.

The Election Commission is expected to soon announce the election schedule to fill up the upcoming vacancies.

Addressing the press, AIUDF general secretary (organization) and MLA Rafiqul Islam said that the opposition has the numbers to win one of the three seats.

He said that AIUDF has written letters to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, and other senior Congress leaders, seeking the grand old party’s support for Ajmal in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Islam said the AIUDF has many times in the past supported the candidates of the Congress and other opposition parties in Rajya Sabha polls as well as in presidential elections.

“This time, the Congress should support us. NDA, with the present numbers in the Assam Legislative Assembly, cannot win more than two of the three seats that are going to be vacant in April. NDA does not have the strength to win the third seat. So opposition can unitedly win the third seat,” he said.

Islam said that Ajmal has vast parliamentary experience, having served as a Lok Sabha MP for three terms.

“He will be able to raise issues of Assam and the Northeast in a proper manner in the Rajya Sabha. In addition, very few Muslims have been elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam, despite the community accounting for one-third of the State’s population. We expect a positive reply from the Congress party,” Islam said.