Stunned, Ajmal grapples with loss

GUWAHATI: All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is struggling hard to come to terms with the stunning defeat of its charismatic president, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, in the assembly election.
The Bengali-speaking billionaire perfume baron-turnedpolitician lost to Congress's Wajed Ali Choudhury in Salmara South, which falls in Dhubri, Ajmal's Lok Sabha constituency .

His Congress rival, a former state minister, is an established Muslim leader from lower Assam.

Ajmal followers attributed their chief 's defeat to the shifting of loyalty by Muslim voters to Congress in the minority-dominated areas of lower Assam. “Muslims voters were wary of BJP's growing strength,“ a leader close to Ajmal said. “This made them go with Congress, which they thought would be in better position to protect them than AIUDF .“

Incumbency was also a reason apparently . “People were quite unhappy with his son, Abdur Rahman, who represented the seat last time. They felt Abdur failed to achieve anything sig nificant in the constitu ency,“ Mazedur Rah man, a social activist from neighbouring Barpeta, said.

Incidentally, Ab dur Rahman, who is in his 30s, did not contest this time to vacate the seat for his father. His younger brother, Abdur Rahim, 31, won from Jamuna mukh in central Assam this time.

One common complaint against Ajmal in Dhubri was that he spent most of his time away from the state and did not pay attention to the people's problems as an MP.“Ajaml uses politics to expand his business. His main agenda is to earn more money,“ Monowar Hussain, a former AIUDF lawmaker, alleged.Hussain joined Congress just before the election.

Many were of the view that it was Ajmal's vaulting ambition to become a king-maker in state politics that angered Congress, especially Gogoi.The former alumnus of Darool uloom, Deoband, often claimed that he would call the shots in case Assam got a hung assembly. Initially, Ajmal tried to bargain with Congress at the local level.

Later, he approached Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi but Gogoi convinced them into ognoring the overtures.As it turns out, perhaps that didn't work out too well for both parties.