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No pre-poll alliance with Cong: Ajmal

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Dec 4 - While keeping its door open for post-poll alliance with the Congress party in Assam, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal said that efforts are on to form a third front in Assam and a meeting with Opposition parties has been convened next week.

Briefing newsmen this afternoon, AIUDF president, who was flanked by Lok Sabha MPs Sirajuddin Ajmal and Radhay Shyam Biswas, said that a meeting with Janata Dal (U) is scheduled next week to discuss about pre-poll alliance. Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav and KC Tyagi are likely to take part in the discussion.

The AIUDF is also holding negotiations with the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) to field candidates in Assam and West Bengal in alliance with that party.

In Assam, he is talking to all Opposition parties, including the Asom Gana Parishad.

In BTC areas, Ajmal said his desire is to rope in the non-Bodo front in the third front to take on the BPF. The AIUDF is planning to field candidates in 75-80 constituencies.

�Our doors are open for all secular parties,� Ajmal said.

He, however, was categorical of having no truck with the Congress ahead of the polls. An alliance between AIUDF and Congress will only benefit the BJP to polarise the electorate, he explained.

Asked about the possibility of forging post-poll alliance, Ajmal said it cannot be ruled out. Those things will be decided only after the results are announced, he said.

But AIUDF and Congress seem to be burning all their bridges, with Ajmal today taking on State Congress president Anjan Dutta and State Minister Rockibul Hussain. Ajmal is likely to file a defamation suit against Dutta in a court in Guwahati on Monday. �I will be claiming a Rs 150-crore damage,� Ajmal said. �I have given Dutta 24 hours� notice to either prove the allegation or withdraw his allegations,� he said.

Meanwhile, Ajmal has vowed to defeat Rockibul Hussain, stating that his advice to the State Minister would be to contest from three-four constituencies. �Wherever he goes, I will follow him like a shadow and ensure his defeat,� he said, blasting Hussain for making allegation against him and his Dubai-based brothers.

Asked to comment on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi�s claim that he has been talking to both Congress and BJP, Ajmal admitted that he met Gogoi, but as a part of a 15-member Jamiat delegation. �Such negotiations are not held in the presence of 15 persons,� he said.

�The AIUDF will never have any truck with BJP,� he asserted.

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