Guwahati: More than 18 months after they had forged alliance to contest Assembly elections in Assam held in May 2016, the BJP and the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have decided to fight the forthcoming panchayat election in the state as separate entities.
The third ally in the state’s ruling coalition Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) too is expected to go it alone in the panchayat polls, dates of which are yet to be announced.
The State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass has announced about the BJP’s decision to contest panchayat election alone. The party has formulated its strategy too for fighting the polls. The State BJP president sounded confident in improving the performance of the BJP in panchayat polls.
In the meantime, the regional AGP held a meeting in Golaghat on Saturday to decide on the strategy of the party for the panchayat election. The AGP’s vice-president and a senior cabinet minister in the state, Keshab Mahanta informed that there had been no precedence in the state of fighting panchayat polls in alliance and the AGP would go alone in the forthcoming panchayat polls in the state.
Meanwhile, a senior AGP leader Phani Bhushan Choudhury has struck a discordant note while stating that there was growing dissidence within the AGP over party nominations for panchayat election.
The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), the third ally in the state’s ruling coalition led by the BJP, has stated that it was willing to contest panchayat polls in alliance with the BJP and the AGP, but it is prepared to contest the polls along if the BJP and the AGP go alone too.
The chief executive member (CEM) of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and leader of the BPF, Hagrama Mohilary on Saturday said so after the executive committee meeting of the party held at Barama to decide on the party’s strategy on panchayat polls.
(EoM)
