Guwahati: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Ripun Bora in an exclusive interview with Time8 said that the next state polls slated in 2021 will be held under his leadership. Bora said that as the party’s president, it is his role to head the party in the ensuing polls.

Bora who is also, a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, believed that the party high command has full faith in his ability to lead the party to bring it back to power in Dispur.

“As of now, I can say that I will lead the party to the next state election. As the party President, it’s my duty as long as the High Command in the party doesn’t think otherwise,” Bora said.

Bora’s statement came as a blow to a section of party members who had moved Congress President Sonia Gandhi to remove him from the post of APCC president. A group of 10 PCC members had moved Sonia Gandhi in March seeking Bora’s replacement in the “greater interest” of the party.

They complained Gandhi that Bora had allegedly furnished wrong information before the Election Commission during his election to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 about no criminal case pending against him. Bora was an accused in the 2002 Daniel Topno murder case.

Bora was appointed as APCC President in 2016.

In the exclusive interview, Bora also hinted that the party is open for alliances with the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) factions. He said, “We want all anti CAA forces to unite and uproot the misrule of the BJP government.”

However, the seasoned politicians did not make any comment when he was asked whether he would be the next chief ministerial candidate from the Congress in the next polls. He said, “As per Congress’s tradition, the party doesn’t project anyone as the CM beforehand. Everything is decided in Delhi after taking everyone in the party in confidence.”