Akhil Gogoi to merge his party with Didi’s TMC?
‘Alliance under Mamata to oust BJP is in making’
Well-known RTI activistturned-politician Akhil Gogoi said here Sunday that he was working on floating an alliance of regional parties under the leadership of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to remove the BJP from power at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Mr Gogoi, who heads the fledgling Raijor Dal, a regional political party in Assam, also said that Ms Banerjee had extended an invitation to him to merge his party, Raijor Dal, with the Trinamul Congress.
Mr Gogoi met TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday.
Mr Gogoi told reporters: “We intend to form a confederation of regional forces and project Ms Mamata Banerjee as its leader to remove the Narendra Modi government from power in 2024.”
Saying the proposal by Ms Banerjee to merge his party with the TMC will be placed before the party’s executive body meeting, Mr Gogoi claimed that Ms Banerjee had assured him of the
post of Trinamul’s Assam unit president if the Raijor Dal merged with the ruling party in West Bengal. Pointing out that three rounds of talks between the TMC and the Raijor Dal have already taken place on this, Mr Gogoi described Ms Banerjee as the “biggest face of resistance against the fascist RSS-BJP”.
It is significant that Mr Gogoi, who spent nearly one and half years in jail after being booked under the amended UAPA (Unlawful Assembly Prevention Act), won the election from prison. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency for spearheading the antiCitizenship Ame-ndment Act protests in Assam in 2019. However, a special NIA court discharged him on all charges last month.
Earlier, Mr Gogoi had met TMC MP and the party’s second in command Abhishek Banerjee too earlier this week.
Mr Gogoi, who was in his constituency, Sivasagar, on Sunday to attend the executive body meeting of his party, also attacked Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, saying that he has not done anything for the Muslim people in Assam. He also announced that his party would launch an agitation against the state government from November 1.
Accusing the Central government of not providing adequate Covid-19 vaccines to the state, he also demanded the completion of the Covid-19 vaccinations in the state by October 30.
Though Mr Gogoi was silent on the merger offer of Ms Banerjee in his speech, sources in the party said that the proposal will be placed before the state executive body meeting which will take a final decision on Sunday.