Guwahati, Jan 19 : Differences over the party’s stand vis-à-vis the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections today forced the ruling Congress in Assam to keep all options open.

A crucial meeting of the PCC-reconstituted executive this afternoon steered clear of any decision on taking the AUDF along since there had been no proposal to this effect from either side anyway.

PCC general secretary Haren Das held out the “no-proposal” official line before the media after the first executive meeting of the reconstituted PCC at the packed Rajiv Bhawan.

He, however, remained ambivalent when asked as to why the Congress leaders kept rushing to Delhi to lobby either in favour of or against any tie-up with the AUDF.

“What is there to discuss about the AUDF? There was no proposal from either side. All the hype is in the media,” Das said.

Notwithstanding the apparent attempt not to give enough weight to the issue, Congress sources told this correspondent that the PCC executive’s refrain from taking a decision either way vis-à-vis the AUDF only conveyed the sharp differences within the PCC over the issue.

The differences cropped up last evening when a section of PCC office-bearers strongly objected to the draft political resolution and got it changed before it was placed before the executive today for ratification.

The draft political resolution placed before the PCC office-bearers last night described the AUDF as “communal” and said that the Congress was against any tie-up with the nascent party.

The political resolution was further diluted when a very long paragraph in the draft political resolution critical of the “divisive” and the “steadily-losing relevance” of the AUDF was amended.

The final political resolution harped on the proposed third front, comprising the AUDF-CPI-CPM-NCP. It stated that it would remain a non-starter in Assam.

“The voters have already been polarised between two major combinations — the UPA led by the Congress and the NDA led by the BJP,” the amended resolution stated.

A formal PCC decision either against or for a tie-up with the AUDF would have helped the AICC make up its mind.

“The PCC appears to have played safe as nobody knows what would be the pre-poll or post poll scene,” a senior Congress leader said.