HT Bureau
DIPHU, June 06: The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) has attributed its defeat in the Lok Sabha election from the 6th Diphu parliamentary constituency to disunity among anti-BJP forces.
“The main reason for the defeat of the anti-BJP elements this time is the arrogant attitude of the All Party Hills Leaders Conference (APHLC) and Congress, as both parties refused to come together to put up a common candidate. Therefore, it is the APHLC and Congress who have inadvertently supported the BJP,” said Jotson Bey.
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Regarding what they can do to regain acceptance among the people, Bey said, “First, we have to inform the people of the damage done by previous leaders like Holiram Terang and former MP and CPI (ML) leader Dr Jayanta Rongpi. Rongpi has played very dirty politics by applying his communist ideologies and principles to undermine the regional party ASDC.”
Bey alleged that Dr Rongpi was involved in massive corruption in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and claimed that after he (Bey) became the chief executive member (CEM) of KAAC, corruption was curtailed. While people are blaming the present leader for the party’s downfall, it was the CPI (ML) that injected poison into the ASDC.
Bey also said that factions of ASDC were formally joined together into a single organisation in 2017.
“The people this time seem to distance themselves from ASDC because of the mistakes committed by a section of the party leaders in the guise of the CPI (ML). The present sets of leaders are now bearing the brunt of people’s anger for the mistakes of past leaders,” he stated.
ASDC accused the APHLC of following in the footsteps of the CPI (ML) in misleading the people on various issues.
Giving confidence to the party workers, Bey said that despite the poll debacle, the ASDC, together with its frontal organisations, will continue with the movement for an autonomous state.
The party will continue to pressure the BJP government in Assam to fulfill all the promises made before the Parliamentary election, including holding tripartite talks on the autonomous state, conducting an eviction drive in Professional Grazing Reserve / Village Grazing Reserve land in Kheroni, solving the inter-state border issue with Meghalaya state, and stopping the extension of Kaziranga National Park into Karbi Anglong.
ASDC is a regional party in Karbi Anglong. This might be ASDC’s worst performance in a Lok Sabha election since 1991. The party’s candidate Jotson Bey in this 2024 Lok Sabha election could gather only 9,633 votes, which is below NOTA (none of the above) which has collected 16,259 votes.
The BJP has retained the seat for two consecutive terms. The BJP’s Horensing Bey won the seat in 2019; this time a new face, Amarsing Tisso, has won the same.
