If 'Mahajath' wins Assam polls, CM will be from Congress: Gaurav Gogoi

By Archana Prasad
Jorhat (Assam) [India], March 24 : Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said on Wednesday if the 'Mahajath' alliance wins election in Assam then the Chief Minister will be from his party.
Speaking to ANI, Gogoi said that Congress is contesting the maximum number of seats in Assam and ruled out the possibility of any deputy chief minister if 'Mahajath' elected to power in the state.
"We are contesting on a maximum number of seats. In this alliance, there are many parties. The dominant party is Congress, Mahajath will form the government but the Chief Minister will be from the Congress party. There is not going to be any deputy Chief Minister," the Congress leader said.
"This alliance was formed to oppose the CAA. There is no question, the Chief Minister face will be from Congress," he further said.
When asked about having an alliance with Badruddin Ajmal's AIUDF, he said: "In last elections, it was Tarun Gogoi ji who proposed the third party in Rajya Sabha candidate which was supported by Congress."
"One very conveniently remembers that's a statement but conveniently forgets that Tarun Gogoi ji, Ajmal ji, Congress, AIUDF and civil society came together to send a prominent anti-CAA critic to Rajya Sabha and that was the beginning for the formation of 'Mahajoth'," he added.
Gogoi said that the alliance was formed to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and to take on the Centre to nullify it.
"We had launched anti-CAA protest by asking people to donate 'gamosa', while BJP is deceiving people. In Bengal, their manifesto mentions CAA, but in Assam, it has no mention. The CAA is a central law, why is BJP using CAA in 1 state and excluding in another," he said.
'Mahajath' comprises of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation, the Anchalik Gana Marcha (AGM) and the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF).
In Assam, Assembly elections on 126 seats shall be held in three phases from March 27. Votes will be counted on May 2.
In 2016, the BJP scripted history and formed the government for the first time in the state ending Congress's 15-year rule. BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People's Front (BPF) won a combined 86 seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly. BJP bagged 60 seats, AGP 14 and BPF 12 seats.
Congress, which ran the state for three straight terms under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi, could manage to win only 26 seats.