BJP joins hands with AGP to contest Assam elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will jointly contest the upcoming Assam Assembly elections, former Chief Minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta announced on Wednesday.

The announcement came after top AGP leadership had a discussion with BJP chief Amit Shah here. “We had a meeting with the BJP President where we have decided to contest the coming Assam Assembly polls together,” Mahanta said. 

The former two-time CM said a formal announcement about the alliance will be made by the two parties in a day or two where the number of seats to be contested by them would be made public. BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal, AGP president Atul Bora besides others were present in the meeting.

Bora said a Common Minimum Programme will be announced by the two parties soon. “The alliance will dethrone the corrupt and non- performing Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government in Assam,” he said.

Election to the 126-member Assam Assembly is expected to be held in April-May. 

BJP and AGP had an alliance in 2009 Lok Sabha polls in which the saffron party bagged four seats and AGP just one.

The two parties considered an alliance ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but the regional party had backed off, apparently on the assumption that such an understanding would not be beneficial for AGP.