Guwahati, Jan 17 : A 25-member delegation of the Assam PCC met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi last night to seek his intervention in preventing an alliance with the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) which continues to evoke mixed feelings within the Congress.

A section of Congress leaders, led by a group of MPs from the state, wants a tie-up with the AUDF to prevent any slide in the party’s minority votes. The other group, backed by chief minister Tarun Gogoi, is opposed to any deal with the front, which was floated in violation of Gogoi’s minority policy.

The delegation, led by senior Congress leader Chandan Sarkar, told the Prime Minister that under no circumstance should the Congress join hands with the AUDF as it would only benefit the front.

“The AUDF is a spent force and any alliance with the Congress will only give it a fresh lease of life,” Misbahul Islam Laskar, the Congress minority department chairman and a member of the delegation, said over phone from New Delhi.

He said the Prime Minister has assured the delegates that he would convey their request to party president Sonia Gandhi.

The delegates, who are camping in New Delhi since January 8, also met external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and senior party leaders Mohsina Kidwai and Digvijay Singh in their endeavour to block any pre-poll alliance of the party with the AUDF.

The delegation rushed to Delhi as the group led by the MPs was trying hard for an alliance with the minority front, saying that it would be difficult for the party to do well otherwise. Senior AICC leader in charge of Assam V. Moily had supported the idea and invited the AUDF to join hands with the Congress.

AUDF president Badruddin Ajmal, however, recently made it clear that his party was not interested in any alliance with the Congress.

Instead, the minority party has started parleys with the CPI, the CPM and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to float a third front in the state before the Lok Sabha elections.

The AGP and the BJP have already decided to go to the hustings together.