From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The debacle in recently held election to Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has created so much frustration and disillusionment in the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leadership that a number of its senior leaders and office bearers at the party’s top rung have tendered resignation.
So far seven leaders of the party namely, Hitendra Nath Goswami, Pitambor Saikia, Lohit Eupreti, Kaminiranjan Baruah, Manoranjan Sharma, Nitumoni Dutta and Chandra Prakash Sharma have resigned from the central executive body of the party expressing negative attitude of the party leadership in respect to promoting younger generation leaders.
These leaders stated that lack of dynamism and obstinate attitude of the current leadership to cling to top positions in the party has created a negative image of the party among the people and the debacle in the just held election to the GMC was a reflection of it.
In addition, three other senior leaders of the party including Rajya Sabha MP, Birendra Prasad Baishya, former minister Atual Bora and party general secretary Ramendra Narayan Kalita, who was in charge of party’s electioneering, have tendered resignation over the poll debacle.
A senior party MLA, Padma Hazarika has now announced that he is so frustrated with the functioning of the AGP’s top leaders that he was definitely going to quit the party.
Meanwhile, the AGP leadership while accepting the resignation of the seven central executive committee members of the party has requested the rest three senior leaders to withdraw their resignation.
The AGP won only one seat in the election to 31-member GMC while Congress won 19 seats and the BJP won 11 seats.
On the other hand the AGP general secretaries, Kamala Kalita and Durga Das Boro have stated that the party is trying to revamp its image and poll performance but the efforts were yet to deliver the goods. They said it happens in the life of a political party and cited the example of Congress whose efforts to win power in Tripura, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are yet to deliver results.