GUWAHATI: Despite the exit polls predicting 9-12 seats to BJP and its allies in Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is not too confident of winning any of the three seats it contested.
“I can’t say we will win any of the three seats we contested. Their demography is different. The voting behaviour in some Assembly segments in the three LS seats is also different,” AGP president Atul Bora said.
He, however, said he had no doubt that the NDA would retain power at the Centre.
“The NDA will come to power and we are very sure about it. If the BJP wins the highest number of seats in Assam, we will consider it as also our victory as we had contested the polls together,” Bora added.
The AGP and the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) are BJP allies which contested the polls together. Of the state’s 14 seats, BJP contested in ten, AGP in three and BPF in one.
The AGP, which realigned with the BJP ahead of the polls ignoring opposition from a section of its leaders, had contested from Kaliabor, Dhubri and Barpeta seats. Muslims are kingmakers in Dhubri and Barpeta seats. Kaliabor has been held by the Congress since early 1990s.
The BJP too believes its allies are not going to win seats.
“We are confident of winning all the ten seats we contested. However, we are not sure if our allies AGP or BPF will win any,” BJP’s Assam unit president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said.
He made the statement based on the reports of the BJP’s 25,500 booth committees spread across the state.
The BJP, meanwhile, is on a high following the exit poll predictions. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said mandate 2019 was in favour of Narendra Modi government.
“PM Narendra Modi worked very sincerely and honestly in the past five years. So, people voted wholeheartedly in favour of his BJP,” Sonowal asserted.
The Congress is, however, skeptical with the exit poll predictions.
“Let’s wait till May 23. Most exit polls are usually done based on small sample size. As such, we had seen their past forecasts turning out to be inaccurate,” Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora said.