Guwahati: Assam’s minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal said people would flock to see Congress leader Rahul Gandhi when he undertakes his “Bharat Nyay Yatra” but will not vote for the party.
“Rahul Gandhi is a son of the Nehru family. When he goes to any place, there will be a gathering. People will see him as a hero but will not vote...It (Bharat Nyay Yatra) will not work,” Ajmal, who is the Dhubri MP, told journalists after an event in lower Assam’s Barpeta.
The Bharat Nyay Yatra will be taken out from Manipur on January 14. It will cover 14 states and 85 districts before concluding in Mumbai on March 20.
Ajmal pointed out that Gandhi had earlier travelled around 50 per cent of the country (Bharat Yodo Yatra) but the Congress did not get the desired results in the elections.
The Congress slammed Ajmal, who is also a perfume baron, and his AIUDF.
“Who is Badruddin Ajmal to even comment on Rahul Gandhi? Badruddin Ajmal and his party today have no standing in Assam politics. People of Assam and India have realised that AIUDF is the B-team of BJP and he has transformed himself as the spokesperson of BJP,” Assam Congress vice president and senior spokesperson Bobbeeta Sharma said.
She said Ajmal was miffed with Rahul Gandhi as the Congress had not included AIUDF in the INDIA bloc.
“He had visited all the INDIA alliance partners with a begging bowl to be included in the alliance but it served no purpose as everybody is now aware of his true character. He had fooled the minority people of Assam for a long time but now he will have to face the music in the Lok Sabha elections,” she added.
The AIUDF is also not a part of Assam’s Congress-led 15-party opposition alliance named United Opposition Forum Assam.