BJP MLAs seek vote for Murmu from 'Moghul' Ajmal

With India all set to elect its new president today, several tea community leaders from Assam affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) visited their All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) counterparts to ask them for a special favour.

On the eve of the presidential election, BJP MLAs reached the houses of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal and 15 other AIUDF MLAs and asked them to vote for National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu.

The MLAs were also seen offering 'gamusas' (a venerable Assamese garment) to Ajmal and his AIUDF colleagues.

Later, Mariani legislator Rupjyoti Kurmi, who defected to the BJP last year, claimed that 10-12 Opposition leaders had been persuaded to vote for Murmu.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Murmu will be the first president from the Adivasi community if voted to power. Adivasis reside mainly in the central and eastern states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. In the colonial period, many were taken as indentured labourers to Assam and today their descendants belong to a group called the “Tea Tribes.”

Meanwhile, Pijush Hazarika, Jagiroad legislator and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s trusted lieutenant,  said that the BJP MLAs’ fishing for votes in the AIUDF camp was not a political decision from the party, but leaders of the tea tribe community proactively campaigning in the interest of their own community.

“That is the reason why Sanjoy Kishan, Krishna Kamal, Teras Gowalla, Rupesh Gowalla and others from our party sought votes from the AIUDF. If they vote for us, we also welcome that,” Hazarika said.

On the other hand, Assam Congress leader Zakir Hussain Sikdar has claimed that this episode sheds light on the close bond between the BJP and the AIUDF.

Talking to India Today NE, he said: “BJP legislators visited their AIUDF counterparts to ask for votes. Therefore, the BJP cannot tell the people of Assam that they are not with the AIUDF and  they do not want the AIUDF’s votes.”

Polling in the presidential election is underway at Parliament House and the state legislative assemblies.

On July 17, the AIUDF officially clarified its its 'anti BJP’ stand and resolve to vote for  Yashwant Sinha.

Notably, the AIUDF party's leaders have been attacking their Congress party counterparts, claiming they would vote for Murmu. 

Badruddin Ajmal who had kept his intentions (on voting) in the air up until recently, yesterday proclaimed: “Since our very inception, we are against the BJP. Whatever be the case, no matter how much the Congress detests us, we are holding firm to our position.”