Assam: AIUDF expels three leaders for supporting BJP candidate in bypolls

Guwahati: Hours after announcing support for the BJP candidate in the upcoming by-election, three All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) leaders were expelled from the party on Tuesday.

Three opposition leaders–Saddam Hussain, Safikul Islam and Sadikur Rahman earlier in the day announced their support for the BJP candidate Diplu Ranjan Sarma in Assam’s Samaguri assembly seat defying the AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal’s direction.

Hussain and other leaders told reporters: “We cannot go with the Congress candidate Tanzil Hussain. His father Rakibul Hussain contested against our chief Badruddin Ajmal in Dhubri constituency in the Lok Sabha polls. This was a betrayal and hence we cannot support the Congress candidate in Samaguri.”

They openly announced their support for the BJP candidate Diplu Ranjan Sarma. Following that, the AIUDF leadership expelled the trio from the party.

Badruddin Ajmal said that he did not field any candidate in the Samaguri assembly seat to help ‘nephew’ Tanzil Hussain.

He said: “I might have differences with Rakibul Hussain in Dhubri but I have no animosity with his son. I wish him good luck and I desire that he be chosen as an MLA from Yamaguchi in the bypolls. He has come to my house for the blessing.”

Ajmal was defeated by Rakibul Hussain by more than 10 lakh votes in AIUDF bastion Dhubri – a seat he represented in the lower house of the parliament for 15 years.

The AIUDF leadership earlier announced that they would field a candidate in the Samaguri Assembly seat; however, later they changed their decision and the party announced that they decided to stay out of the by-elections.

Ajmal said: “If we field candidates in any of the five seats which are going into bypolls, the BJP will get an advantage. We do not want to give the ruling party an edge in this election. AIUDF’s motive is to put a brake on BJP’s winning spree and that is why we have decided not to contest polls.”

Hussain was an MLA in the Samaguri Assembly constituency for a long time and the Congress party fielded him in the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat to take on Ajmal.

Following his win in the Lok Sabha polls, his Assembly seat Samaguri fell vacant and the bypolls became imminent there.

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