Congress failed to honour alliance ethics, says AIUDF leader Rafiqul Islam

AIUDF General Secretary and MLA Rafiqul Islam, on January 20, criticised the Congress for failing to build a united opposition front against the BJP, saying the party lacked the political ethics required to sustain an alliance. 

Islam said that had the Congress been serious about giving a strong fight to the BJP, it should have forged a robust alliance with opposition parties. “If we had worked together, the BJP could have been overthrown. But Congress’s ideology is different—they want to win on their own,” he remarked, adding that such an approach reflected the party’s long-standing mindset. 

Questioning what could be expected from the Congress under these circumstances, Islam underscored that the party repeatedly fails to live up to the basic principles of coalition politics.

Earlier, on January 19, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaurav Gogoi made it unequivocally clear that the Congress will not enter into any electoral understanding with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) for the 2026 Assam Assembly elections, drawing a firm political line against any tie-up with the Badruddin Ajmal-led party. Addressing a series of public meetings in the Hajo–Sualkuchi constituency, Gogoi asserted that the Congress has taken a conscious and principled decision to contest independently of the AIUDF, signalling continuity with its recent strategic positioning.

Also Read: Gaurav Gogoi rules out Congress–AIUDF alliance for Assam Assembly polls

Gogoi said the AIUDF’s weak performance in the last Lok Sabha elections had exposed the fragility of its electoral base, particularly outside its limited pockets of influence. He argued that the perception that the AIUDF could cross the Assembly threshold or significantly alter electoral outcomes by aligning with the Congress was “entirely misplaced,” maintaining that such assumptions did not stand up to electoral evidence. According to him, the Congress has no intention of lending legitimacy to what he described as an overstated political relevance.

Instead, Gogoi said the Congress is focused on stitching together a broader and more inclusive opposition platform, on the lines of the alliance forged for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which deliberately excluded the AIUDF. He emphasised that the party’s objective is to consolidate secular, democratic and regional forces that share a common minimum programme, rather than enter into opportunistic alliances that could undermine political credibility and long-term strategy.

Turning his attention to the state government, Gogoi launched a sharp attack on Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, accusing him of repeatedly failing to honour key commitments made to the people of Assam. Prominent among these, he said, was the unfulfilled promise of granting Scheduled Tribe status to six communities, an issue that has remained unresolved despite repeated assurances. Gogoi described Sarma as the “most dishonest” chief minister Assam has seen, alleging that the chief minister had amassed substantial wealth in the names of his family members.

The Congress leader asserted that accountability would be a central plank of the party’s campaign and warned that if voted to power, the Congress would initiate legal and administrative action to confiscate assets allegedly acquired through illegal means. He said the party would place transparency, social justice and constitutional guarantees at the heart of its governance agenda, positioning the 2026 Assembly elections as a decisive battle for Assam’s political and moral future.