GUWAHATI: Assam’s ruling BJP and regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have buried the hatchet and struck a poll alliance.
The decision was made late Tuesday night at a meeting here in the presence of BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, party’s Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, AGP president Atul Bora and its working president Keshab Mahanta.
Ram Madhav later tweeted: “After discussion, BJP and AGP have decided to work together in the coming Parliament election in Assam to defeat Congress…BPF (Bodoland People’s Front) will be the third partner in the alliance”.
The decision comes just two months after the AGP had severed ties with the BJP and pulled out of Sarbananda Sonowal government protesting the Centre’s move to get the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed in Parliament to grant Indian citizenship to immigrants belonging to six persecuted non-Muslim communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
As an immediate fallout of the latest political development, AGP leader Lachit Bordoloi resigned from the party. He described party leaders, responsible for the alliance, as “opportunists”. A section of AGP leaders, including two-time former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, was opposed to the alliance. Mahanta was not available for comments on Wednesday.
AGP general secretary Manoj Saikia, however, told reporters that the party’s stand on Citizenship Bill would remain the same. “We have aligned with BJP keeping in mind political equations,” he asserted.
It was learnt that although the alliance has been forged, the seat-sharing arrangement is yet to be finalised by the two parties.
The AGP had three ministers – Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhushan Choudhury – who had quit the Sonowal ministry in January after the two parties had fallen apart. As the two have now patched up, Bora and Mahanta assumed charge as ministers on Wednesday. Choudhury is likely to follow suit soon.
BJP president Amit Shah had recently made it clear in Assam that the party would pursue the issue of Citizenship Bill in the future. The Congress slammed the development as a “drama” by the AGP.
“The AGP is hungry for power. By aligning with the BJP, the AGP has proved that it is against the people of Assam. Their protests against Citizenship Bill were a drama,” state Congress chief Ripun Bora said.
Alliance and the resultant seat-sharing arrangement had done wonders for both BJP and AGP in the 2016 Assam elections. The BJP had grabbed 60 of the state’s 126 seats to form the government with allies AGP, which had won 15 seats, and Bodoland People’s Front.