Aasu-AJYCP to contest 80-100 seats in Assam

The name of the new regional party will be announced by September 15

The two leading frontline students organisations of Assam — All Assam Student’s Union (Aasu) and Asom Jatiyabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) here on Friday announced the formation of a new regional political outfit which would be contesting 80-100 seats in the Assembly polls next year.

Announcing the slogan of party — Assam firstalways and forever, AASU general secretary

Lurinjyoti Gogoi told reporters that Basanta Deka and Krishna Gopal Bhattacharya have been appointed as the convenors of the party’s Assam Advisory Committee which will be taking all the decisions on behalf of the party.

The name of the party will be announced on or before September 15.

Pointing out that the new party will maintain distance from communal and nationalist parties, the Aasu general secretary said, “The people of Assam expect a change.

They hope that the weak socio-economic situation will be restructured and a foundation of a selfreliant state economy will be laid. The people of Assam also want a solution to the problem of illegal immigrants in the state.”

If insiders in the students organisation are to be believed, there is a section of leaders in the Aasu who were opposed to the idea of floating the political party. The chief adviser and most prominent face of the Aasu Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya was not present in the press conference on Friday. However, he was said to be unwell.

Earlier, the Aasu and the Asom Jatiyabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad had formed a 16-member ‘Assam Advisory Committee’.

The Assam Advisory Committee that had some of the most prominent names from the state submitted its report on September 2 and suggested the influential AasuAJYCP to float a political party to contest the upcoming elections.

The election to the 126member Assam assembly is scheduled to take place in March-April.

The 2016 elections gave a fractured mandate and no party has an absolute majority in the state Assembly.

The Aasu general secretary who is said to be the chief architect of the new political outfit has already made it clear that they are strictly against the Congress and AIUDF as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress is equally guilty for the foreigners’ problem.

The Congress had even supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Act with the 2014 deadline by including Muslim immigrants, and they are the ones who started the construction of big dams in Assam, he said. “Today, they (Congress) are opposing all these issues because they are not in power. They too worked on the lines of the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance. These are opportunistic parties,” said the Aasu general secretary known for is firebrand speeches.