Mandatory challenger
Mandatory challenger
The 2021 Assembly elections in Assam are poised to witness an intense battle with the new regional party Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) throwing its hat in the ring.
| 19 Dec 2020 6:07 AM GMT
The 2021 Assembly elections in Assam are poised to witness an intense battle with the new regional party Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) throwing its hat in the ring. The election of Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the former general secretary of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) as the president of the new party was on expected lines. The AJP, backed by the AASU and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), has also announced plans to unite all regional parties who are not in alliance with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the opposition Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). This has paved the way for a likely pre-poll alliance or seat sharing between the AJP and the Raijor Dal, another new regional party formed at the behest of the Akhil Gogoi-led Krishak Mutki Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and allied organizations. Through one of the 19 resolutions adopted in its first political convention which concluded in Sivasagar on Thursday, the AJP demanded release of Akhil Gogoi. The KMSS leader arrested during the agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 last year is also urging the regional parties opposed to BJP and Congress-AIUDF to unite. Several prominent leaders and workers deserting the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a constituent of the BJP-led ruling coalition and joining the AJP has helped the AJP expand its footprint in just a few months of its formation. If the two new regional parties are able to clinch a deal it may cause further erosion in the AGP.