AGP, BJP spar over local polls
Both parties to contest district council elections separately.
Guwahati: The regional Asom Gana Parishad on Saturday announced its decision to contest the elections for Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council alone.
Though chinks in the alliance between the BJP and the AGP were evident for a long time, they came out into the open with Assam BJP declaring the list of candidates for all the 26 seats for the ensuing elections.
AGP president and minister in the BJP-led alliance government, Atul Bora, announced that the party would also be fielding candidates on all the 26 seats.
Bogged down by unilateral decisions by the BJP, former chief minister and veteran AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta alleged that the BJP was conspiring to end the existence of regional forces in the state. Mr Mahanta claimed that the AGP will not be bogged down and will continue to fight for the cause of the people.
AGP MLA Pabindra Deka also reiterated that the BJP was violating the coalition norm. He reiterated that the saffron party was able to secure more than 35 seats in the Assembly elections only because it had allied with regional parties.
Differences in the ruling alliance had started surfacing over the issue of granting citizenship to Hindu Bengalis who migrated to Assam from Bangladesh. The AGP openly opposed the move of the NDA government to introduce the Citiizenship Amendment Bill 2016 in Parliament.
The AGP, which was formed on the plank of driving out illegal migrants from Assam, said that it won’t allow any more migrants to settle in the state irrespective of caste, creed and community.
The ruling BJP wants that Hindu Bengalis who have migrated from Bangladesh due to religious persecution be given settlement as well as citizenship.
The ruling BJP is confident of surviving without the AGP and has been targeting regional leaders, to bring them into the party fold, BJP insiders said, adding that BJP is reluctant to share more power with the AGP.
There are two Cabinet ministers in the government from AGP quota. Several AGP leaders had joined the BJP just before the 2016 Assembly elections.