Guwahati, Nov 21, 2023, IANS

Guwahati, Nov 21 (IANS) Assam Cabinet Minister Pijush Hazarika on Tuesday claimed that chances were slim for the Congress to win even one seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters here, the Minister said: “There are 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. The situation of Congress is pathetic in at least 12 seats. The BJP will easily win those seats. The Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have slim chances of winning the remaining two.”

AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, who won the Dhubri seat last time, is considered a strong candidate and pollsters have predicted him to win again.

According to party sources, Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah is keen on contesting from the Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat which was newly created in the delimitation exercise scrapping the earlier Kaliabor constituency.

Gaurav Gogoi, the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, is currently the Kaliabor MP. But, his seat will not exist in the 2024 general elections.

The Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat has many areas which were earlier under the Kalibor constituency.

But Gogoi is not willing to fight from Kaziranga.

In the meanwhile, a senior Congress leader recently said that the INDIA opposition bloc might field Borah as their candidate in the Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat.

Reacting to the possibility of Borah’s candidature, Hazarika told the reporters: “The Assam Congress president can fight in the Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat but he will definitely lose the election by a margin of at least 3 lakh votes.”