After testing coalition politics survival with odd partners, BJP is now not averse to test waters in the eastern state of Assam. Here also it is a marriage of diametrically opposite parties, an arrangement similar to that of Jammu and Kashmir . BJP is desperate to make inroads in all the states where it hardly has any representation. Assam traditionally a Congress strong hold headed by Tarun Gogoi where BJP is playing minority card and is using its minority wing which has made an announcement to make the state a model of minority development if it wins the polls. The state has the second largest Muslim population and to woo in this large vote bank party won’t hesitate to rope-in All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in the wake of hung Assembly on 19th May when the results are announced. BJP’s coalition experiment primarily is to emerge as a pan-India single largest party, removing its arch rival Congress from the field by giving regional parties the much needed further push. Ultimately the end result is the BJP’s dominance and where it plays second fiddle like in Jammu and Kashmir, it does not mind going to any extent to keep the partner happy. Earlier, the party’s National President Amit Shah had said that the party would prefer to sit in opposition than to seek such an alliance but now with time and option running out it will have to go under such ‘unholy alliance’. On the other side there is another alliance which has emerged with Congress joining with Left parties. If they are fighting against each other in some states in Assam they are united to fight BJP and its partners. So anything can happen in politics. Both BJP and AIUDF have common Muslim vote and for AIDUF the poll outcome would decide its future. The party won 18 seats in 2011, fears a Congress onslaught on the 61 minority dominated seats in lower and central Assam ending its support base.
