AGP pushes alliance ball to Amit Shah

Guwahati, November 26, 2018:

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Monday took a decision to write to BJP president Amit Shah to decide on the fate of alliance between the two parties.

The decision was made at a closed-door meeting which was attended by most top leaders of the AGP. An AGP insider, who attended the meeting, told InsideNe, “It was decided at the meeting that the AGP will write to Amit Shah and ask him if he wants the continuance of the alliance or not. He was being taken into confidence since it was in consultation with him that the alliance was struck”.

It was learnt that AGP leader and former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had walked out of the meeting midway following differences of opinions over alliance with the BJP.

Later, briefing the media, AGP president Atul Bora made it clear that the AGP would not compromise on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

“When Narendra Modi had visited Assam ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, we were assured when he said the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants would be deported. We thought the BJP will implement the Assam Accord. So, we forged an alliance with the BJP,” Bora said.

He said to the AGP, the Assam Accord was like the Bible, the Quran and the Geeta. The AGP is committed to implement the Assam Accord and it will not compromise on it. There cannot be anything bigger than national interests, he said.

He also pointed out that the Citizenship Bill, which the BJP wants to pass, would make the ongoing updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) meaningless.

“We have accepted the immigrants who came till 1971. Why should we accept more? We cannot compromise on the Citizenship Bill. Ours is a regional party. We will not remain mute on issues of Assam and the Assamese,” Bora categorically stated.

On the upcoming panchayat polls, he said BJP president Ranjit Kumar Dass had on several occasions said the BJP would go it alone.

“In any case, had there been an alliance between the two parties, there would have been more trouble. There would have been problems over the distribution of tickets,” he said.

Bora also reacted on the Congress’s overtures that the AGP could work together with the grand old party to thwart the BJP.

“The Congress is our enemy. Because of the Congress, the AGP was born. So, there cannot be any alliance with the Congress. When Tarun Gogoi was in power, he used to say one thing in the Brahmaputra Valley and something very different in the Barak Valley. The Congress was involved in corruption and the way they ruled, the people of Assam have not forgotten,” he signed off.