Is AGP heading for another split with BJP?
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Is the AGP heading for yet another split – given the uneasy truce between a section of its district committees and the central leadership? The moot issue in the regional party is the alliance with the BJP again. Even as the issue has been calmed by the party leadership, it seems, it still has the potential of splitting the party yet again.
The bone of contention in the party is that a number of its district committees have been opposing the latest BJP-AGP alliance after the recent uprising in the State against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
According to sources in the party, the latest BJP-AGP alliance has few takers amongst a section of district committees of the regional party. They say that the alliance has been stitched by a section of top leaders of the party for their political interests – without approval from the central executive committee and the general body of the party.
According to party sources, even as the central committee of the party has appealed to the district committees not to go against the BJP-AGP alliance, a section of district committee leaders let the central committee know that even as they have opted not to campaign against the official AGP-BJP candidates, they want to keep their right to exercise franchise reserved with them. Many of such leaders have toed the line of founder AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta who has distanced himself from the alliance. So far, Mahanta has not taken part in the campaign for the general election.
Some of the aggrieved party leaders feel that “if the AGP cannot win a single Lok Sabha seat in this general election, it will not get any importance from the BJP, nor will the people of the State take it into confidence. When the party failed to do much headway in the recent panchayat poll, the prime duty of the party leadership should have been to boost the morale of party leaders and cadres. However, instead of doing that, the leadership solely rested its head on the BJP. We know, strengthening the BJP is tantamount to paving the way for reintroduction of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Parliament.”
A meeting has been called in Guwahati on Sunday by the aggrieved party leaders to discuss all such issues.
They say history repeats itself. The party has an instable past – because of infighting the party had to witness split with the formation of the Natun AGP (NAGP). After the NAGP merging with the AGP, the party split again with the formation of the AGP-Progressive (AGP-P). Now the big question mark: Is it heading for yet another split? It is something to be seen in the days ahead.
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