Guwahati: Opposition alliance in Assam may be sealed ahead of the state assembly elections without Raijor Dal, as Assam PCC president Gaurav Gogoi said on Wednesday he is no longer as optimistic as before about forming a coalition with Akhil Gogoi’s party.Pressure is mounting on the Congress leadership amid reports that it is giving up several key Congress strongholds (assembly seats) to Raijor Dal during ongoing alliance talks.CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday Congress has handed over winnable seats to Raijor Dal and, as a result, Congress may fail to even secure the leader of opposition post in the next assembly.Gaurav said alliance talks with some like-minded parties are nearly complete, but discussions with Raijor Dal remain unfinished. “I am not as positive as before (on alliance with Raijor Dal). Previously, I was 100% positive,” he said.“Our central leadership wants some more data from us regarding talks (with Raijor Dal). Maybe in the coming days AICC may give us ‘margdarshan’,” Gaurav said. He did not identify the parties with whom talks are done, though sources said negotiations with Left, Assam Jatiya Parishad, and APHLC were productive.The conflict between Congress and Raijor Dal continues mainly over two seats — Naoboicha and Dhing — where minorities are a decisive factor. Akhil remains firm on contesting 12 seats of his party’s choice, including Dhing and Naoboicha, although he said Congress agreed to relinquish 15 seats for Raijor Dal.Akhil told mediapersons that there were ticket aspirants from 66 seats from his party and Raijor Dal cannot come down below 12 seats of choice. “There will be an alliance if Congress relinquishes seats where our candidates are in a far better position to win,” Akhil said.“If Congress gives us 12 seats of our choice to contest, the alliance will be final. Only in a few important seats, we did not get a reply from Congress,” Akhil said. “The ball is in Congress’s court. If they really want to defeat BJP, there will be an alliance with us,” he added.On Tuesday night, Congress workers from Dalgaon — a minority-dominated constituency in lower Assam — held a dharna at Gaurav’s residence at Ajanta Path in Guwahati, protesting the reported plan to relinquish the seat to Raijor Dal without consulting them.On Wednesday, the same group staged a sit-in at the Assam PCC headquarters, Rajiv Bhavan, drawing a response from Gaurav, who assured discussions with the workers. Having just returned from New Delhi after key candidate-selection meetings, he said, “We are ready to listen to those Congress workers who are anguished.”Gaurav also expressed displeasure over suspended Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed and Congress legislator Abdur Rashid Mandal joining Raijor Dal recently and being expected to receive tickets from the party.
