The three-phase assembly elections in Assam were over on 6th April, while the results will be counted and announced on the 2nd of May, almost a month later. This has become a major headache for the Congress-led grand alliance which includes AIUDF, BPF and other parties, as they fear that their candidates may switch over to BJP. To prevent this from happening, the alliance has resorted to the well-known strategy of the Congress party, the resort strategy.
The Congress-AIUDF have decided to keep some of its candidates away from Assam, and they have selected Congress-ruled Rajasthan for the same. According to ANI, Congress sources said that the candidates have been shifted to Jaipur as a precautionary measure by the Mahajot alliance. The party said that today several AIUDF candidates reached Jaipur, while few more Congress candidates will be shifted to Jaipur shortly.
The candidates have been checked in at the Fairmount Hotel in the Rajasthan capital.
Congress chief whip in Rajasthan Mahesh Joshi said that the candidates were shifted to Rajasthan in fear that BJP may try to ‘buy’ them. “Till BJP is in Centre, there’ll always be a possibility of buying MLAs,” he said. Joshi added that around 20 people were coming today, but he was not aware about their parties.
A flight manifest of an Indigo Guwahati-Jaipur flight shows that 20 AIUDF candidates were shifted to Jaipur today. Flight no 6E-9397 took off from Guwahati in the morning today and landed in Jaipur at around 1.30 PM.
This step by the alliance comes after one their candidates already joined BJP. BPF candidate from Tamulpur, Rangja Khungur Basumatary, had joined BJP on 1st April and retired from the elections. His decision came after the last date for withdrawal of nomination was over, therefore his name remained in the election, hence he had appealed the voters to vote for the BJP ally UPPL candidate. BPF had appealed the EC to postpone the elections, but the EC had refused to do so, saying that there is no provision to postpone elections for candidates switching sides.