Assam Congress Rift: 13 MLAs Demand Change in Leadership

Guwahati, November 5, 2019:

A major rift in the Assam Pradesh Congress leaders has been reported after the latest defeat of the party in the recently held assembly by-elections in the State.

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As many as 13 Congress MLAs on Tuesday wrote to the party high command demanding change in the state leaders of the Assam Pradesh Legislative Party (CLP). The MLAs have demanded the removal of the Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia.

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In the letter to Sonia Gandhi, the MLAs wrote, “We being the main opposition in the Assembly, should have been able to highlight their failures and should have made a scathing attack on the ruling party in every session. But alas! We have miserably failed because of the poor leadership of our CLP. Our CLP leader, Debabrata Saikia is neither vocal nor remain alert in the Assembly. He is timid and his voice is hardly heard in the Assembly.”

The letter has been signed by Rokibul Hussain, Nandita Das, Ajanta Neog, Wazed Ali Choudhury, AK Rishad Alam, Sherman Ali, Ilias Ali, Jakir Hussain Sikdar, Nurul Hudda, Matiur Rahman Mandal, Roselina Tirki, Abdul hai Nagri, and Rekibuddin Ahmed.

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Speaking with Inside Northeast, Debabrata Saikia said, “If any member has any grievances, they can definitely reach out to the high command. I’ve come to know about their grievances today and I will reply to the party high command, accordingly. Everyone is assigned with works, and some can perform as per expectations, while others cannot...”

Claiming that publicizing internal issues can cause harm to the party, Saikia added, “I try to give preference to everyone, there is no particular reason for which come may have grievances. If I’m asked for a reply, I will definitely do that.”

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