The Hindu : National : Decision to bar Mahanta from AGP posts ratified

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Monday, Sep 13, 2004

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National

Decision to bar Mahanta from AGP posts ratified

By Our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, SEPT. 12. The Central Executive Committee of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has ratified the recent decision of the party's steering committee to strip the founder president and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of all posts and bar him from holding any post for an indefinite period.

The executive body of the Opposition party took the decision at a meeting held in upper Assam's Dibrugarh town on Saturday.

The decision comes a day after the AGP president, Brindaban Goswami, assured supporters of his arch rival, Mr. Mahanta, that the he would reconsider the steering committee's decision.

Mahanta loyalists had mounted pressure on the party leadership to withdraw the disciplinary action against the former chief minister by burning effigies of Mr. Goswami.

Mahanta's plea

Mr. Mahanta too, while describing the steering committee decision as "vindictive and in violation of the party constitution," had urged the leadership to reconsider it. He, however, urged party workers to refrain from burning effigies of Mr. Goswami.

On August 26, the AGP steering committee decided to strip Mr. Mahanta of all party posts on the ground that "a personal affair of Mahanta had lowered the image of the regional party."

The ruling Congress, in a bid to capitalise on the Opposition's squabbling, claimed Mr. Mahanta had been sidelined by the AGP at the behest of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The allegation was levelled by the AICC observer in-charge of Assam and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh. He maintained that this was the general perception among the people and not his own opinion. The AGP countered this allegation by saying that several Congress ministers have links with the ULFA.

By-election

The AGP executive committee's decision has dashed all hopes the Mahanta loyalists had of seeing him back in power. The decision has come at a time when Mr. Goswami is faced with the challenge of retaining the party's hold in the Moran Assembly constituency, where the by-election is scheduled for October 13. The by-election is being held since the AGP MLA from the constituency, Sarbananda Sonowal, has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Dibrugarh.

The AGP executive also entrusted the responsibility of devising the party's strategy for by-election to seven general secretaries.

Mr. Mahanta quit as the AGP president in September 2001 after he was accused of bigamy by Ms. Bharali. The former Chief Minister, however, strongly denied the allegation and described it as a conspiracy to malign him and the party. He went into political hibernation while the party elected Mr. Goswami as the president on September 6, 2001.

Mr. Mahanta attempted a comeback and contested for the post of president in an organisational election held in January this year. He, however, lost to Mr. Goswami, who was re-elected at the party's Tezpur conference.

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