Guwahati, Jan. 23: A day after the bickering factions of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) called a poll-necessitated truce, former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta formally put his hand up for the party top job to set at rest speculation about whether he had shelved his comeback plans.
The AGP?s in-house election will be conducted at the three-day triennial Tezpur conference of the party, beginning January 28.
Mahanta?s announcement, made during a news conference at his official residence here this morning, virtually ruled out a rapprochement between the warring AGP groups, one led by him and the other by party president Brindaban Goswami.
The former chief minister claimed he had been pressured into taking the decision by ?the same lot of party colleagues who had asked me to resign in 2001?.
Mahanta, who led the AGP unchallenged for 16 years, almost faded out of politics after the party received a drubbing in the 2001 Assembly poll and reports of an allegedly illicit relationship cast a shadow on his image. Both developments led to Goswami taking over the party reins in September that year. The bigamy charge, however, remains unsubstantiated.
The former AGP chief said his comeback has more to with the party?s needs than his own ambition. ?I have told them (his supporters) that I am ready to take the responsibility. I am always ready to shoulder any responsibility that the party entrusts me with. I must respect the valued opinion and suggestions of my party colleagues.?
On whether he expected trouble during the Tezpur conclave ? the Mahanta camp has accused surrendered Ulfa (Sulfa) members of interfering in party affairs ? he said: ?I do not think the people of Tezpur will allow such things to happen. If such a situation arises, we will face it.?
Mahanta claimed the Sulfa members who had assembled near the party headquarters before the start of the two-day central executive committee meeting on Wednesday had been identified. The group was holding placards containing slogans maligning him.
A source said the former chief minister?s supporters had acquired ?documentary evidence?, primarily photographs, of the Sulfa campaign against their leader.
The five-member probe committee that was constituted after Mahanta complained of interference in party affairs by the Sulfa brigade said in its report that an ?unknown group? had assembled near the party headquarters. The panel said none of the seven witnesses who deposed before it could identify the members of the group.
On the AGP?s prospects in the Lok Sabha poll, Mahanta said the party needed to ?avoid a split in the non-Congress votes?. He said the party?s stand on an alliance with the BJP, which he personally is in favour of, would be finalised at the Tezpur conclave. The AGP leader said the Congress would fail to retain half the seats it won in the last election.