Parties aspire to have slice of power

Guwahati, Apr 23: With the prospect of fractured mandate looming large in Assam, the smaller political groups are girding their loins to work out strategy to form a group of sort to capitalise on the fluid situation of government formation.

All the political parties are almost certain that none of the two major political parties, the ruling Congress and its arch rival regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), is going to win enough seats in the 126-member Assam House to form a government on their own although the two parties are claiming otherwise.

Informed sources said former Chief Minister and leader of the newly-floated Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive) Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had taken an initiative to cobble up a cohesive groups of smaller parties after the poll results are out so that together these parties can have some say in the formation of the next government in the state.

The AGP(P) initiated move has both the factions of Bodo people's Progressive Forum (BPPF), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) and some independent candidates with chances of winning in its scheme of things.

The AGP (P) which was formed as consequence of Mr Mahanta's expulsion from the AGP, the party he had founded along with his colleagues of Assam Agitation against foreigners in 1985, fought the election on anti-Congress platform and with an intention to make going tough for the AGP led by Brindabon Goswami.

However, it has a difficult task in hand to bring smaller political groups under one umbrella given that the NCP is most likely to take side with the Congress in the event of hung Assembly, at least the ruling party believes so.

There is already a tug of war among different lobbies within the Congress to woo the AUDF, led by perfume mogul Badaruddin Ajmal. The AUDF nurtures an ambition to play the kingmaker as it hopes to win more than 20 seats.

Similarly, the BPPF faction, led by former rebel leader Hagrama Mohilary, is known for his inclination towards the Congress, while the other faction of the Bodo party, led by Rabiram Narzary, is inclined towards the AGP.

Out of the other political parties, the CPI (M), CPI, Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Gana Parishad (TGP) fought election as allies of the regional AGP.

The third formidable force in the state politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains confident of holding the key to formation of the next government in the state. Political observers do not rule out a possible AGP-BJP understanding after the results are out to achieve their common goal of keeping Congress at bay.

It may be mentioned that throughout the electioneering in the state Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had been accusing the BJP and the AGP of having tacit understanding. However, both the AGP and BJP, which maintained distance from each other during polls, denied the charge levelled by Mr Gogoi.

However, post-poll reality might bring both the parties closer given that they have almost similar stand on the burning issue of infiltration. In the pre-election chapter, the AGP was apprehensive of a tie-up with the BJP basically because it was wary of antagonizing religious minorities viewing the BJP not as a friendly party.

UNI