Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to finalise the Assam Opposition’s consensus candidate for one of the three Rajya Sabha seats to be vacated in April.
The Opposition Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have shortlisted a few names.
“We want a vocal, articulate person who has a secular outlook and is against the unconstitutional Citizenship (Amendment) Act and who can highlight the critical issues of the State in Parliament. We are hopeful of naming our candidate in two-three days,” AIUDF president and perfume baron Maulana Badrudddin Ajmal said on Monday.
He said the two parties were wary of Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his “horse-trading skills”.
Mr. Ajmal, who represents western Assam’s Dhubri constituency in the Lok Sabha, had founded the AIUDF in 2005 as a reaction to the “inability of the Congress government” in the State and at the Centre to prevent the scrapping of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act of 1983.
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The Supreme Court scrapped the allegedly pro-immigrants Act on the basis of a petition by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was then with the Asom Gana Parishad, one of the two regional allies in the BJP-led government he heads now.
“We have narrowed down the list of probable candidates to be approved by Sonia Gandhiji soon,” a senior party leader said, declining to be quoted.
Congress stalwart and former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said tying up with the AIUDF — the party he once said was incompatible — has become a necessity for keeping the “fascist, communal forces” in check. He said a few people, including media house owner Jayanta Baruah, were seeking a berth.
Mr. Baruah denied approaching either of the two parties, as did film-maker Jahnu Barua who said he had no political ambitions. The former said his name crops up whenever there is an election to the Rajya Sabha .
A possible consensus candidate is journalist Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, who leaders of the two parties said could win the race.
The 126-member Assam Assembly has an effective strength of 124 following the death of Congress MLA Pranab Kumar Gogoi and BJP’s Rajen Barthakur. With 86 legislators, the BJP and its allies are confident of winning two of the three seats to be vacated by Bhubaneswar Kalita, Sanjay Sinh and Biswajit Daimary in April.
Both Mr. Kalita and Dr. Sinh quit the Congress and joined the BJP last year while Mr. Daimary belongs to the Bodoland People’s Front, one of the BJP’s two regional allies.
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The BJP has chosen Mr. Kalita while Mr. Daimary is likely to be renominated for the second seat.
The Congress with 23 MLAs and the AIUDF with 14 can bag the third seat only if they field a consensus candidate and there is no cross-voting.
Elections are scheduled on March 26.
