On 27 April, the Assam state unit of Congress in the presence of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Jitendra Singh held a meeting with 10 other Opposition parties in the state. The parties which attended the meeting are Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML)(L), JD(U), RJD, Trinamool Congress, NCP and Jatiya Dal Assam. According to the state unit, Congress President Bhupen Bora, who was also present in the meeting, said that AAP was also invited but they couldn’t make it. He also added that after the meeting, a co-ordination committee of 11 parties, was formed.
This is the second such meeting of the Opposition parties led by the grand old party in the state within a span of two months. Back in March, the party held a meeting with nine Opposition parties — AJP, Raijor Dal, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML)(L), RJD, NCP, Liberal Democratic Party, and Jatiya Dal Assam. Later the LDP, formed in 2015 by BJP’s founding national convenor of the party’s IT cell Pradyut Bora after quitting the party, merged into the grand old party.
Most of the parties attending the Opposition have no base in the state. Congress currently has 26 MLAs while Raijor Dal and CPM have one MLA each. The two new regional parties — Raijor Dal and AJP — have some presence in Assamese Hindu-dominated areas but haven’t been able to strengthen their bases. On the other hand, CPM still has some pockets of influence in the state while TMC hasn’t been able to build its base yet.