AGP to rethink BJP alliance if bill withdrawn

GUWAHATI: Barely a week after it came out of the BJP-led state government, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) said it will think of reconsidering the alliance only if the saffron party withdraws the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

“If BJP withdraws the bill, we may then discuss the issue of reconsidering the alliance in the party platform. At the moment, BJP is determined on the passage of the bill. That is why we walked out of the alliance. When we met Rajnath Singh, he told us if Rajya Sabha does not pass the bill, a joint parliamentary session will be called,” Bora told TOI.

Bora and two other AGP ministers, Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhusan Choudhury, also resigned from the Sarbananda Sonowal cabinet after severing the alliance with BJP on January 8. AGP, one of the three constituents of the BJP-led state government, opposed the bill tooth and nail, saying that it violates the Assam Accord, which fixed March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for the detection and deportation of foreigners. Bodoland People’s Front, another BJP ally, has remained in the government.

“BJP bulldozed people’s sentiments against the bill which is going to threaten the identity of the state. Despite our repeated appeals to the central and state governments not to go ahead with the bill, BJP went ahead with it. So, we stepped out of the alliance,” Bora said.

Mahanta said Sonowal should have given precedence to the sentiment of the people of the state.

On the other hand, Congress MLA and leader of opposition, Debabrata Saikia, said chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal Sonowal should quit BJP in the backdrop of the widespread resentment against the party. Saikia said Congress would help Sonowal form an “alternative government” if he comes out of BJP. “Congress, with 25 MLAs in the 126-member assembly, is ready to back Sonowal in forming an alternative government if he comes out of BJP with 40 MLAs,” Saikia said.