Guwahati, Jan. 28: A resurgent Prafulla Kumar Mahanta fired the first salvo in the battle for control of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), accusing president Brindaban Goswami of not leading the party properly.
The founder president of the AGP and former chief minister reached Tezpur, Goswami?s hometown, with his aides this afternoon and made a grand entry into the venue of the regional party?s three-day triennial conference. Slogan-shouting supporters in motorbikes and four-wheelers heralded his arrival there.
The election to the post of AGP president is slated for tomorrow.
Before leaving for Tezpur, Mahanta told the media at his official residence here that Goswami?s failure to lead the party in the manner he was expected to forced members to approach him to ?shoulder the responsibility? of marshalling them once again.
On whether he was confident of winning the election, the former chief minister said there was no question of defeat. ?There is a growing feeling in the rank and file of the party that the leadership?s energies are focused on consolidation of personal power and simultaneously campaigning against some of the senior leaders at the cost of the party?s image.?
He stressed the need to end interference by ?outside forces? in the affairs of AGP.
The Mahanta camp had initially demanded that the conference be shifted from Tezpur, saying forces campaigning against their leader could prevent them from attending the conclave.
The former AGP chief said it pained him to see the party going downhill. ?Unfortunately, despite the failure of the state government on almost all fronts, the party that enjoys the status of main Opposition group in the Assembly has failed to project the problems of the people of the state.?
Mahanta accused Goswami of being preoccupied with his personal agenda instead of capitalising on the ruling Congress? failures. He said the AGP leader?s inept management of the party was reflected in the dismal outcome of the recent civic poll.
The comeback man, however, tried to justify the AGP?s equally pathetic tally in the 2001 Assembly poll under his leadership. He said the electoral setback did not reflect the party?s popularity at the time because the difference in the vote share of the winning candidates and those of the AGP and its allies ?was not much?.
Blaming Goswami for all the ills plaguing the AGP thereafter, he said: ?Let alone play an effective Opposition, the present leadership failed to do justice to its supporters. It did not protect the party workers from harassment by members of the ruling party.?