GUWAHATI: Just two months after it walked out of NDA over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Asom Gana Parishad was once again in the alliance after it struck a care for BJP throughout a meeting with Assam leader minister Sarbananda Sonowal and others that went on well past Tuesday nighttime.
As in line with the deal, AGP will likely be given a minimum of 3 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats and one of the two Rajya Sabha slots for which polls are due in June, best sources stated. Besides, BJP has assured AGP of modifications to the Citizenship Bill when it's reintroduced in Parliament.
The 3 AGP ministers, including party president Atul Bora, were again in the cabinet on Wednesday hours after the nighttime talks, that have been also attended by BJP common secretary Ram Madhav and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. That BJP's leadership were operating on AGP leaders was once obtrusive from the truth that the resignations of the 3 AGP ministers were never forwarded to the governor by Sonowal.
However, there are variations within AGP over its go back to the ruling alliance as the party's founder-president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was once now not invited for the talks with BJP. Mahanta stated he were saved out of the loop fully, perhaps as a result of he had now not been in favour of the coalition.
"I have not been officially informed by my party about realigning with BJP. Going back to BJP is wrong. The grassroots workers of our party never wanted that. The AGP leadership should have convened a general body meeting before making such a big decision," Mahanta stated. In 2001, Mahanta was once instrumental in placing in combination AGP's alliance with BJP for the first time. Before the 2016 Assam assembly election, when BJP and AGP got here in combination once more, Mahanta was once invited to the assembly that sealed the deal at BJP president Amit Shah's place of dwelling in New Delhi.
AGP had severed ties with BJP two months ago as it felt that the Citizenship Bill was once a danger to coverage of Assamese identity, which is the party's core time table.
However, on Wednesday, Himanta assured that the Bill will likely be offered in the Lok Sabha once more in the subsequent two to a few months. "In the meantime, we will iron out any differences through consultation and consensus. Our priority is protecting the interests of Assam ... (We can see) if any inclusions can be made to the new Bill to allay any insecurity in the minds of the people of Assam," Sarma stated.
Under hearth from supporters for going again at the determination to take a "principled stand", Bora stated, "Our single objective is to have our presence in Lok Sabha. For that, we need to contest to win elections. Our stand to oppose the Citizenship Bill has not changed but we have decided to resolve the issue through consensus and consultations with BJP."
Sarma stated the main points of the seat-sharing arrangement, which has been finalized, would be introduced quickly. "BJP will announce its list of candidates on March 16 and likewise AGP will announce its list separately."
Meanwhile, Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) convener Upamanyu Hazarika described the alliance between AGP and BJP as 'politics of convenience.'
"It is the politics of self-preservation of leaders who are in public life far beyond their expiry date. AGP was reduced to a 3.8% vote share in the 2014 LS polls. It got a fresh lease of life after striking an alliance with BJP in 2016. They've again proven why the people of Assam had rightly rejected them earlier," Hazarika, who is a Supreme Court attorney, stated.
As in line with the deal, AGP will likely be given a minimum of 3 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats and one of the two Rajya Sabha slots for which polls are due in June, best sources stated. Besides, BJP has assured AGP of modifications to the Citizenship Bill when it's reintroduced in Parliament.
The 3 AGP ministers, including party president Atul Bora, were again in the cabinet on Wednesday hours after the nighttime talks, that have been also attended by BJP common secretary Ram Madhav and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. That BJP's leadership were operating on AGP leaders was once obtrusive from the truth that the resignations of the 3 AGP ministers were never forwarded to the governor by Sonowal.
However, there are variations within AGP over its go back to the ruling alliance as the party's founder-president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was once now not invited for the talks with BJP. Mahanta stated he were saved out of the loop fully, perhaps as a result of he had now not been in favour of the coalition.
"I have not been officially informed by my party about realigning with BJP. Going back to BJP is wrong. The grassroots workers of our party never wanted that. The AGP leadership should have convened a general body meeting before making such a big decision," Mahanta stated. In 2001, Mahanta was once instrumental in placing in combination AGP's alliance with BJP for the first time. Before the 2016 Assam assembly election, when BJP and AGP got here in combination once more, Mahanta was once invited to the assembly that sealed the deal at BJP president Amit Shah's place of dwelling in New Delhi.
AGP had severed ties with BJP two months ago as it felt that the Citizenship Bill was once a danger to coverage of Assamese identity, which is the party's core time table.
However, on Wednesday, Himanta assured that the Bill will likely be offered in the Lok Sabha once more in the subsequent two to a few months. "In the meantime, we will iron out any differences through consultation and consensus. Our priority is protecting the interests of Assam ... (We can see) if any inclusions can be made to the new Bill to allay any insecurity in the minds of the people of Assam," Sarma stated.
Under hearth from supporters for going again at the determination to take a "principled stand", Bora stated, "Our single objective is to have our presence in Lok Sabha. For that, we need to contest to win elections. Our stand to oppose the Citizenship Bill has not changed but we have decided to resolve the issue through consensus and consultations with BJP."
Sarma stated the main points of the seat-sharing arrangement, which has been finalized, would be introduced quickly. "BJP will announce its list of candidates on March 16 and likewise AGP will announce its list separately."
Meanwhile, Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) convener Upamanyu Hazarika described the alliance between AGP and BJP as 'politics of convenience.'
"It is the politics of self-preservation of leaders who are in public life far beyond their expiry date. AGP was reduced to a 3.8% vote share in the 2014 LS polls. It got a fresh lease of life after striking an alliance with BJP in 2016. They've again proven why the people of Assam had rightly rejected them earlier," Hazarika, who is a Supreme Court attorney, stated.
Assam: AGP back in NDA after midnight deal with BJP
![Assam: AGP back in NDA after midnight deal with BJP]()
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March 14, 2019
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