The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Thursday said that the regional political party has snapped its ties with the BJP and BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 but remained silent when asked about the prospect of having an alliance with the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP president Atul Bora while addressing a press conference on Thursday said this in Guwahati and added that the party will finalize its strategy for the Lok Sabha polls after discussing the issue in party forum.
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“It is difficult to answer now as to whether we will join BJP or not since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was lapsed in the Rajya Sabha. The fact remains that we have snapped our ties with the BJP as the saffron party went ahead with passing the Bill in Lok Sabha. Now since the Bill is not there, we will join BJP or not it has to be discussed in the party floor,” he said.
“We want to thank the people of Assam and entire north-eastern states who stood in unison to oppose the Bill with us. We must thank all the people and organizations who made it a success,” he said.
“There is an election ahead of us. So how to go to the polls and whether we should join the BJP or not, how can I say?”Bora said while adding that the party will also discuss any issue with the regional political parties of the region, who stood firm shoulder to shoulder with against the Bill.
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Asked about if the BJP will try to pass the Bill through a ordinance, Bora said that an ordinance is unlikely as there is not much time left for that.
It may be mentioned here that the AGP who was a partner of the government in Assam since 2016, snapped its ties on January this year.
While the three ministers of the AGP tendered their resignations to the Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the Chief Minister is yet to send the resignations for the approval of the Assam Governor.