Guwahati: The proposed Congress-Raijor Dal (RD) alliance in Assam ran into trouble over seat-sharing, with RD saying Congress was offering only four seats and pushing for “friendly contests” in four more.Raijor Dal working president Bhasco De Saikia said the party had submitted a list of 18 constituencies and sought 15 seats, but Congress agreed to relinquish four seats for direct contests and proposed another four for a “friendly contest”.“Congress wants us to contest in another 5 seats which were not in the list of the 18 seats. Thus, Congress wanted Raijor Dal to contest in total 13 seats, including those 5 seats where we had no plan to contest,” Saikia said.He said RD, focused on defeating BJP, was close to accepting Congress’s terms but sought one additional preferred seat within the 13-seat offer. “Since Feb 26, several days went by, but we did not get any positive response from Congress,” Saikia said.Sources familiar with the talks said Congress was ready to give RD Marioni, Sivasagar, Sissibargaon and Digboi, while proposing “friendly contests” in Margherita, Dhing, Mandia and Goalpara East.Two Congress MLAs — Sherman Ali Ahmed and Abdur Rashid Mandal — who recently joined RD were prepared to contest from Mandia and Goalpara East. RD sources said Congress may be applying pressure by insisting on a friendly contest in those constituencies.Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi said there was unhappiness over Sherman and Mandal being projected as alliance candidates despite Congress being the major constituent, particularly because Sherman had been outspoken against the party since his suspension. Sherman recently said he was least bothered about what Gaurav Gogoi said.As Congress and Raijor Dal traded blame for the delay, sources said Congress was close to finalising a coalition arrangement with Assam Jatiya Parishad, the All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference and the Left.Tensions had surfaced earlier after Gaurav Gogoi said Congress would contest 100 of the 126 assembly seats, drawing criticism from Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi, who said it was unfair for Congress to seek 100 seats after consecutive defeats in the 2016 and 2021 assembly polls.
