Assam: AGP eyes 25 lakh members for bigger seat share in rural and Lok Sabha polls

GUWAHATI: The Asom Gana Parishad, BJP’s key ally in Assam, has set a target of achieving 25 lakh membership to stake a bigger claim from its big brother in the ensuing rural polls and 2024 Lok Sabha (LS) polls amid the saffron party gaining more control over the regional allies by maintain its winning streak in successive elections since 2014.
Even as the AGP-BJP coalition continues in Assam since 2016, the regional party’s share in the seats contested by the saffron alliance in the last few elections, including the Guwahati Municipal Corporation election, has been declining.
An AGP insider said the regional party has taken note of BJP’s decision to appoint an MP for each of the 14 LS constituencies in Assam to strengthen party activities in booth level under “Booth Shashaktikaran Abhiyan”. This includes Dhubri, Kaliabor and Barpeta LS constituencies which were offered to AGP in the 2019 LS polls as per a seat-sharing deal. AGP lost in all three.
“AGP wants to boost the morale of the party workers ahead of two important elections. If we can achieve the target of 25 lakh membership, it will definitely justify the claims for more seats in the panchayat and LS polls,” a senior leader of the AGP said.
Sources privy to alliance said BJP might project a strong candidate from Kaliabor constituency to defeat incumbent MP and deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, in 2024.
Khumtai MLA Mrinal Saikia was the BJP candidate for Kaliabor in 2014 but after the seat- sharing deal in 2019 LS polls, the saffron alliance fielded AGP working president Keshab Mahanta’s brother Manimadhab Mahanta from the Kaliabor seat. While minority communities have been playing the deciding role in electoral victory in Dhubri and Barpeta, BJP insiders feel that in Kalibor, the minorities will play a lesser important role than Dhubri and Barpeta.