The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Monday said it does not need to learn lessons on moralities from Assam’s Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Senior AGP leader Kumar Dipak Das said, “We have already discussed with the BJP when we will withdraw our support to the coalition government. The BJP should not dictate terms to us”.
He said the AGP had already apprised the BJP leadership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to when the regional party would sever its ties with the BJP. He said the AGP would take the extreme decision the day the Modi government seeks to pass the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha.
His reaction came a day after Sarma had indirectly dared the AGP to pull out its support to the government if it feels so. Sarma’s comments were in connection with the Citizenship Bill.
“We do not need to take lessons on morality from Himanta Biswa Sarma. He himself was with the Congress for more than 15 years. We have decided to oppose the Citizenship Bill and we will continue to oppose it. We cannot compromise on anything that is a potential threat to the Assamese community,” Das said.
Sarma on Sunday had said that the AGP does not have any “moral right” to oppose the Citizenship Bill as its leaders had legitimized the stay of one crore immigrants, who entered Assam before 1971, through the signing of the Assam Accord.