By IANS
Guwahati : Assam's beleaguered opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is making a desperate attempt for revival with a majority of the grassroots workers seeking a change in leadership and to reunite the party that witnessed a vertical split two years back.
The cracks within the regional AGP, that got a drubbing in the last two assembly elections at the hands of the ruling Congress, widened further when 15 of the 19 legislators and an MP defied a party whip to abstain from voting in last week's presidential elections.
At least four AGP lawmakers voted for Pratibha Patil, much to the delight of the ruling Congress party.
On Sunday, the AGP held a general council meeting here with local leaders expressing their anger at the handling of the party affairs by its president Brindaban Goswami.
Some of the speakers also accused Goswami of blocking moves for unification of the regional party with Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who had formed a splinter faction called AGP-Progressive (AGP-P) in 2005.
Mahanta, twice chief minister of Assam, was replaced as party president in 2001 by Goswami on a bigamy charge and was unceremoniously expelled in 2005 from the party he founded two decades ago. He was accused of 'anti-party' activities.
Mahanta denies both 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.
The AGP's general council decided to hold elections for a new president and its central committee members by next month and resolved to bring back all its leaders who have parted ways to strengthen the party. "The need of the hour is to unite and work together instead of sticking to some false egos," a senior AGP leader said after the meeting.
"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."