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BJP rules out alliance with AGP

Nitin Gogoi in Guwahati

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday ruled out any alliance with the ruling Asom Gana Parishad for the assembly election in Assam scheduled for late April or early May.

Announcing this at a press conference in Guwahati, BJP president Bangaru Laxman said: "Barring a minor adjustment with NDA [National Democratic Alliance] constituents, the party will largely go it alone in the forthcoming polls.

The decision has come in deference to the wishes of the state unit of the party, which believes the AGP's popularity is on the decline and it will not be beneficial for the BJP to have a tie-up with it.

Laxman's announcement came at the end of a two-day meeting of the national office-bearers of the party at Guwahati over the weekend.

The BJP's decision effectively ends the talk of a possible alliance with the AGP to keep the Congress out of power. The AGP is ruling Assam in alliance with the two Communist parties and two smaller regional parties.

The Left, disturbed by the speculation about the AGP-BJP tie-up, had asked AGP president and Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta to clarify the issue.

The AGP on its part had flip-flopped over the issue, sending contradictory signals over the last month.

Monday's categorical announcement by the BJP will please the Congress because a triangular contest is likely to benefit the party.

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