Senior AGP leader and former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta seems to be all set to join the Assam Congress-led Grand Alliance for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections.
This development comes following exclusion of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s name from the candidates’ list of the AGP.
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Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, a 7-time MLA from Barhampur constituency in Nagaon, has been left out of the AGP’s candidates’ list.
Assam Congress
This has led Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his supporters to revive AGP’s breakaway faction – the Asom Gana Parishad-Progressive (AGP-P).
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The AGP-P is being revived by some former AGP leaders who stand opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
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The AGP-P merged into the AGP in 2008.
The AGP-P was formed by two-time former Chief Minister of Assam Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in 2005 in protest against his expulsion from the AGP.
However, the AGP-P did not perform well in the 2006 Assam Assembly elections.
It may be mentioned that Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had been a vocal in opposing the passing and proposed implementation of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s anti-CAA stand led to his isolation within the AGP ranks as the party’s leadership have been an ardent supporter of the BJP’s brainchild CAA.
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Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s denial of ticket by the AGP is being look upon by many as a bid by the party’s leadership to get rid of the former Chief Minister because of his anti-CAA stand.
In fact Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s seat of Bahrampur has been snatched by the BJP, from where the saffron party has fielded its own candidate – Jitu Goswami.