By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Guwahati : Assam’s beleaguered opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is making a desperate attempt for revival with a majority of the grassroots leaders seeking a change in leadership and are for reuniting the party that witnessed a vertical split two years ago.
The AGP, currently in shambles, is holding its triennial conference in Guwahati with a three-day programme from Wednesday with the primary agenda being to boost the party’s sagging morale and get a new president.
“What we expect from this conference is to see that a decision is taken to reunite the party and have a new president who could give a new direction to the party that is currently rotting,” a senior AGP leader said requesting not to be named.
Several top AGP leaders have openly voiced their anger in party forums and admitted of being totally disillusioned with the handling of the party affairs by its present leader and president Brindaban Goswami.
“If we don’t get a new president in this meeting, I would think the future of the AGP is doomed,” another party leader said.
The cracks within the regional AGP, that got a drubbing in the last two assembly elections at the hands of the ruling Congress, further widened when 15 of the 19 legislators and an MP defied a party whip to abstain for voting in the recently concluded presidential elections.
At least four AGP lawmakers voted for Pratibha Patil, much to the delight of the ruling Congress party.
The AGP president is also accused of blocking moves for unification of the regional party with Prafulla Kumar Mahanta forming a splinter faction called AGP-Progressive (AGP-P) in 2005.
Mahanta, a two-time former Assam chief minister, was in 2001 replaced as party president by Goswami on alleged bigamy charge and was then unceremoniously expelled in 2005 from the party he founded two decades ago on charges of “anti-party” activities.
Mahanta denies both the charges.
“It is time for the party to unite if regionalism is to survive. All the regional forces must come under one umbrella,” Hemanta Kalita, a leader of the AGP-P, told IANS.
Five regional parties, barring the AGP, have formed an umbrella group, seeking unification of the regional forces to fight the ruling Congress party in Assam. “The need of the hour is to unite and work together instead of sticking to some false egos,” Kalita said.
“Goswami has failed to give the AGP a proper direction and there is no option other than reunification of the two AGP factions if regionalism has to survive in Assam.”
Among the names doing the rounds for the top post in the AGP is Sarbananda Sonowal, the firebrand party MP in the Lok Sabha.
“Sonowal is one person who can revive the party and give it a new dimension,” another AGP leader said.