INDI Witnesses Infighting As Congress, CPIM Lock Horns Over Barpeta Lok Sabha Constituency

Guwahati: With the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 drawing closer, not all seems to be well between the CPIM and the Congress – two key players within the INDI bloc – as the talks between the two parties are believed to have yielded no substantial results amid their ongoing standoff in Barpeta.

Earlier this year, when the crucial meetings for seat-sharing were held among 16 political parties from Assam that are part of the United Opposition Forum, the CPIM was asked to contest from Barpeta, following which the party reportedly did all the groundwork with the Congress and others arguing that only if Manoranjan Talukdar – lone sitting MLA of the CPIM in Assam – contests from the seat, would they leave it to the left. The situation, however, took a turn when the Congress – in its list of candidates for the elections – announced Deep Bayan as its candidate from Barpeta, even as Talukdar had started his poll campaign.

In a strong message to the Congress, Talukdar has said that if the party was serious about the opposition unity, it's time for them to prove it. “We were not willing to contest. It was the Congress and other parties who asked us to contest. Now that we have decided in the favour and entered the field, there is no question of going on the backfoot. We had several rounds of meeting. If they want this, what was the point of those meetings?” Talukdar quipped. 

Meanwhile, sources close to the top leadership in the Assam Congress told Republic that talks are on within the party with regard to the Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency. “We haven't finalised anything yet with respect to the withdrawal of our candidate in Barpeta. The party leadership, however, will soon take a call in this regard", the source further revealed.

Noteworthily, the NDA has fielded Phanibhusan Choudhury of the Asom Gana Parishad from Barpeta. Choudhury is a veteran in the state politics and is currently the longest- incumbent legislator from the Asom Gana Parishad in the State Assembly for last four decades.