DIBRUGARH, Oct 17 ? With Jibantara Ghatowar of the Congress finally wresting Moran from the AGP, the regional party has drawn up a massive revamp plan within the party to prepare for the Assembly polls in the State, scheduled for April 2006. AGP leaders believe the 2006 polls could be advanced by the Congress, to catch the other parties unawares.
The only AGP leader with a mass base in upper Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Saturday put up a brave face, saying the scheduled 2006 elections would not be impacted by the Moran by-election result. This is the same person who said a week ago that the October 2004 elections at Moran would have a bearing in the elections a year and a half from now. The Congress has been candid in saying earlier and now too that the Moran by-poll result would have its ramifications in 2006.
Now that the results are out and the AGP has taken a severe beating at the hustings, Sonowal has taken it upon himself to revamp the party in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts. As a general secretary of the AGP, both fortunes and misfortunes of the party in the two districts are generally attributed to him. On Saturday evening, Sonowal and his close associates huddled in a conclave in a hotel here to discuss how to improve the AGP prospects, especially in the light of the Moran results. The AGP tried quite hard to retain the Moran seat.
In fact, it is the first time that all the top functionaries of the party contributed their mite to win a by-election. From party president Brindabon Goswami to all the seven general secretaries and others, the AGP put up an impressive campaign in the race for Moran. Glamour-wise, their campaign was next only to that of the Congress, which was led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and ably assisted by APCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita, ministers Ripun Bora, Anjan Dutta, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Rockybul Hussain and MLAs Sarat Borkotoky, Dr Kalyan Kumar Gogoi, Etuwa Munda, etc., while the coordination was done by the veteran trade union leader and MLA from Mahmora, Sarat Saikia. At the end of the day, the Congress put up a better show, was organizationally superior and their tactics time-tested.
Under the AGP plan, several party workers who ?worked against the party? have been identified at Saturday night?s conclave. Sonowal and the AGP candidate for Moran, Paragjyoti Baruah believe that their electoral debacle was ?significantly aided? by people within.
In a shrewd move, the AGP has congratulated the voter of Moran for electing the Congress candidate and then going on to thank the same voter for giving a ?massive mandate? to the regional party. The AGP got the lone valid postal ballot and 23339 of the 61849 votes polled through the electronic voting machines.
Though Sonowal was unwilling to go on record on what was discussed at Saturday evening?s conclave, it is reliably learnt that the AGP will be taking a leaf out of the Congress vote gathering machine: to activate a brigade of party loyals who will be looking after each polling station area. Every political issue relating to these small territories would be in the charge of ?someone who is loyal and efficient? and this person would also be the direct link between the common voter and the AGP district committees. This set-up would be in addition to the ?shakha? and ?anchalik? committees of the party.
Asked whether a parallel set-up would not create jurisdictional complexities, the AGP district secretary here, Sasanka Neog, said this would not be the case, as both the groups would be working with different agendas. He said the party committees would look after party affairs, while the other set-up would be networking with the voters and trying to know their situation better.
As Sonowal puts it, the loss of the Moran seat has made the party stand up and get going. ?We can go on accusing others for our woes, but as a political party, we also need to win elections.? For a 19-year old party that the AGP is, the need to have an ear on the ground has finally dawned.