Guwahati, May 20 (IANS) Assam Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar on Wednesday said that the Congress high command is in the process of selecting the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the Assam Assembly, and an announcement regarding the Leader of the Opposition is expected soon.

Speaking to reporters here ahead of the first session of the newly constituted Assam Legislative Assembly, Sikdar said Congress MLAs would jointly participate in the oath-taking ceremony and all Assembly proceedings as a united team.

“All Congress MLAs will participate together in the oath-taking programme along with legislators from other political parties. After that, we will jointly participate in the Assembly proceedings according to the scheduled agenda,” he said.

Sikdar stated that the party high command has already initiated the formal process required for selecting the Congress Legislature Party leader.

“The procedures for electing the Congress Legislature Party leader are already underway. Very soon, within a short period of time, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party as well as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly will be announced,” the Congress MLA said.

Responding to questions over reports that the Congress legislators may have to sit in the Assembly without an officially elected leader on the first day of the session, Sikdar dismissed speculation about confusion within the party.

“I have just arrived in Guwahati. Till this moment, the Legislature Party leader has not yet been officially declared. But tomorrow is mainly for the oath-taking ceremony, so there is no issue regarding that. The leader can be announced at any moment and we are waiting for the decision,” he said.

Sikdar also asserted that the Congress party does not consider religion or community while choosing its leadership and accused rival parties of unnecessarily politicising such issues.

“In Congress, there is no discussion over who is Hindu, Muslim or Christian. Religion and caste are not factors in our party. Those discussions happen in BJP or AIUDF, not in Congress,” he remarked.

The MLA further said that all 19 Congress legislators elected to the Assam Assembly are “sons of Assam”, and the party leadership is consulting on selecting one among them as the CLP leader.

“Discussions are going on regarding all 19 MLAs and a leader will be chosen very soon,” Sikdar added.

–IANS

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