Ajmal charging lakhs to hand tickets, allege rebel AIUDF MLAs

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 20: Denied party tickets, five dissident AIUDF MLAs today lashed out at party president Badruddin Ajmal, alleging that the Dhubri MP is charging huge amounts of money for giving tickets for the ensuing assembly elections.

The legislators, in a joint press conference, also alleged that Ajmal has deliberately put up weak candidates just to polarize votes and not win the election.

"As he is a religious leader, let him swear by the Quran that he has not charged money for tickets… One junior engineer has paid him Rs 1 crore for getting the ticket from Jaleswar," Goalpara East MLA Monowar Hussain said.

Hussain said no survey was conducted in the constituencies as claimed nor local party units consulted before selecting the candidates.

"In 2011, I had approached the High Court for resolution of the long-pending D-voter issue. But Ajmal persuaded us to withdraw the case, saying if the D-voter issue is resolved, the party would have nothing with which it can go to the people," he said.

The legislator said Ajmal has been an autocratic president, treating the party like a mere unit of his group of companies. He also alleged that Ajmal gets crores of funds from the UK and the Middle East in the me of his NGOs, but "nobody knows where the money goes."

"We will file an RTI now seeking the details," Hussain said.

Dhubri MLA Moin Uddin alleged that Ajmal had led the horse-trading episode in the last Rajya Sabha elections in the State.

"We did not indulge in horse-trading or any such brokering and that is why we have been sidelined," he said.

Rupohihat MLA Jahan Uddin said Ajmal is putting up "weak" candidates to help the BJP.

"Ajmal's intention is not to win, but to polarize votes. He does not want to get more than seven/eight seats and restrict the Congress to less than 30 seats. He wants the BJP to form the government in the State so that he continues to get the patroge of the Central government to run his businesses," he said.

Bilasipara East legislator Gul Akhtara Begum said Ajmal demanded Rs 50 lakh merely to retain her as a member of the party.