Left attacks Mahanta on NDA parleys

GUWAHATI, March 2: The CPM today took strong exception to a revelation by the ruling Asom Gana Parishad that it was holding parleys with partners of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for a poll tie-up. CPM leaders also denied claims by the AGP that the Left parties were taken into confidence before discussions were held with NDA partners. "Our party is yet to hold any discussion with the AGP about the coming Assembly elections. If the AGP has been holding discussions with any other party on any electoral understanding, then they have been doing it on their own and we were not told about it," CPM central committee member Uddhab Barman today said in a sharp reaction to the AGP declaration. AGP vice-president Nurul Hussain yesterday said his party has been holding parleys with NDA partners in the state. Hussain also claimed that the AGP had taken both the Left parties into confidence about initiating parleys with NDA partners in Assam for a poll tie-up. Hussain told newsmen that both the Left parties are opposed to a tie-up with the BJP but they have no objection to the AGP holding discussions with any NDA partner. The AGP leader, however, ruled out any truck with the BJP. If the reaction of the CPM to the AGP holding discussions with the NDA partners is any indication, then the Left party is still not convinced about the ruling party's declared stand towards the BJP. Cracks surfaced in the four-party ruling coalition after the AGP youth wing invited Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Nirupam to address a rally in the city. Incidentally, the AGP youth wing also invited leaders of several other NDA partners to the rally but the two Left parties were not invited. The cracks in the four-party alliance widened after the two AGP members in the Rajya Sabha voted in favour of the BJP on a motion relating to the Babri Masjid issue. The Left parties took strong exception to this stand of the AGP parliamentarians. Chief minister and AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, however, justified the party MPs' stand, saying that the AGP had opposed the motion as it was brought by the Congress. Following these developments, both the CPM and the CPI had demanded that the AGP should clarify its stand on the BJP. The AGP later described the BJP's politics "to be against secularism and unity" in its political resolution adopted at the Nagaon conference. Road blockade: The Assam unit of the Youth Congress will block roads in all district headquarters on March 12 in protest against railway minister Mamata Banerjee's alleged indifference towards the Northeast in general and Assam in particular.