Asom Gana Parishad threatens to walk out of NDA

After losing the recently concluded Panchayat elections badly Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is sounding a warning to the BJP that it will walk out of the NDA, sources in the Assam BJP alleged.

On the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, AGP chief Atul Bora wrote to BJP president Amit Shah, saying that the party will have no alternative but to walk out of the NDA if the Bill is passed in the Parliament.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was introduced in the Lok Sabha to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and entered India before December 31, 2014 and resided here for six years.

"AGP is playing hard of ball on alliance. But it has nothing to do with Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. This is directly linked to the party's poor show in the recently concluded Panchayat polls," said a BJP leader from Assam on condition of anonymity.

As per the latest figures released by the State Election Commission, the BJP has a clear lead in the recently concluded Panchayat polls in the state by pocketing 10,953 seats. AGP – an alliance of the BJP-led government – won a measly 1,853 seats. The Panchyat elections results also show a resurgent Congress winning 8,646 seats. So far, the State Election Commission has declared the results of 25,787 seats.

It could be noted that both the AGP and the BJP have contested the Panchayat polls separately.

Assam BJP sources said the issue of AGP-BJP alliance will feature in the party's upcoming national executive meeting.

"We formed an alliance with the AGP after our national leaders had an elaborate discussion with them. So any decision to 'break the alliance' will be taken by the central leadership only," Assam BJP president Ranjit Kumar Das said.

The state BJP has already communicated about its strong reservations about the AGP to the party's Central leadership. Assam BJP leaders are keen on going alone in the 2019 elections, party sources said. Assam has 14 Lok Sabha constituencies.