THE STATES

Marginalising Mahanta

SUSHANTA TALUKDAR
in Guwahati

The sidelining of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, former Chief Minister and founder-president of the Asom Gana Parishad, within the party is complete, and this could help the ruling Congress party in Assam.

HE has been dumped by the very party of which he was the founder-president - the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). The party, which was born out of the six-year-long anti-foreigners agitation in Assam, was led by him as a student leader. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who was the Chief Minister of Assam twice, has been stripped of all party posts, including membership of the central executive committee. He, however, has been allowed to maintain organisational links with party workers in the Barhampur Assembly constituency, which he represents.

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

The AGP steering committee, which met in Guwahati on August 26, also banned him from holding any party post for an indefinite period. The ostensible reason for the harsh measures was that a "personal affair"of Mahanta had "lowered the public image of the regional party". In a statement, AGP president Brindaban Goswami said that Mahanta had failed to give a satisfactory reply when the party had sought an explanation from him about an unpleasant incident at the official residence of the former Chief Minister. The statement added that Mahanta had not defended himself against media reports of incidents involving him on the national highway, which adversely affected the party's image.

Though Goswami did not elaborate on the "personal affairs" of Mahanta, the party had sought an explanation from him following media reports about an alleged incident involving a woman (who had levelled bigamy charges against Mahanta three years ago) at his official residence at Dispur. Mahanta, responding to the notice served on him, submitted a brief reply stating that it was purely a personal matter and would not in any way affect the party's image.

Mahanta, however, reacted cautiously to the strictures passed by the party. He said the decision to strip him of all organisational posts was unfortunate. But he ruled out the possibility of a split in the party. Mahanta's followers in his home district of Nagaon, however, reacted angrily and gheraoed the party office in Nagaon town demanding that the action be withdrawn. There were also reports of his followers burning an effigy of the AGP chief.

MAHANTA had quit as AGP president in September 2001 amidst allegations of bigamy in the aftermath of the party's debacle in the May 2001 Assembly polls. Mahanta vehemently denied the charge and described it as a conspiracy to malign him and the party. Brindaban Goswami, a rival of Mahanta, was elevated to the post of president on September 6 at a general body meeting.

Goswami, who had once parted ways with Mahanta and floated the Natun Asom Gana Parishad (NAGP) along with former Home Minister Bhrigu Kumar Phukan consolidated his position by undertaking a reorganisation of the party at all levels when Mahanta went into political hibernation in New Delhi after quitting the post of party chief.

On his return, Mahanta made efforts to stage a comeback. He contested for the post of president in the party's triennial conference held at Tezpur in January this year but lost to Goswami. A seasoned politician, Mahanta refused to give up. He moved closer to Phukan, whom he had once sidelined from the party for raising the banner of revolt.

The ruling Congress party, in a bid to capitalise on the internal squabbles of the Opposition party, claimed that Mahanta was sidelined by the AGP at the behest of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The allegation was levelled by All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer in charge of Assam and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, who said that it was based on the perception of the people. The Congress pointed out that Mahanta had taken a tough stand against the militant outfit as Chief Minister.

The AGP reacted sharply to the allegation and charged that several Congress Ministers had links with the ULFA. AGP spokesman Jagadish Bhuyan and general secretary Chandra Mohan Patowari also vowed to make public the evidences available at an appropriate time to prove the Congress-ULFA nexus.

Brindaban Goswami said the Congress should set its own house in order instead of interfering in the internal affairs of the AGP by making "irresponsible statements". He said that the Congress party's objective was to divert the attention of the people from the failures of the Tarun Gogoi government.

The AGP leadership was at the same time busy devising strategies to ensure that other influential leaders like Phukan did not get close to Mahanta. Phukan returned to the AGP fold at the initiative of Goswami ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and contested from the Guwahati parliamentary constituency. Although he lost, he was inducted into the Political Affairs Committee of the party, while Mahanta and his followers were kept out of it.

Informed sources in the AGP said that the party leadership had hinted at going soft on two of its legislators, who are said to be close to Mahanta. They had defied a party whip and abstained from voting in the Rajya Sabha elections on March 26. Sources close to the Mahanta camp said that followers of the former Chief Minister planned to mount pressure on the AGP leadership to withdraw the disciplinary action. In such a situation the AGP chief is likely to face a tough challenge. He will have to convince party workers about the necessity for the action taken against Mahanta or succumb to the pressure for a rapprochement with the former president in order to deny the Congress any mileage as a result of the internal squabbling in the party.

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