Guwahati, June 30: Former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has sought an appointment with chief election commissioner B.B. Tandon, ostensibly to enquire whether his faction could stake claim to the name ?Asom Gana Parishad? and its symbol in the event of a split in the party.

An aide of the sidelined AGP leader, who left for New Delhi last evening, said he would be meeting Tandon in a day or two to discuss the legalities and options that would be available to him if the party were to split.

?The proposed meeting is basically to do the spadework for future action,? he said.

He indicated that the faction would be the first to stake claim to the party?s symbol, the elephant, by positioning itself as the ?original AGP?.

The second alternative for which the Mahanta camp seems to be preparing is to form a separate party.

During his stay in the capital, the former chief minister is likely to meet BJP president L.K. Advani, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar and Janata Dal (United) chief George Fernandes.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma, who returned to the NCP recently, and Samajwadi Party general secretary Sayed Khan had shared the dais with Mahanta during a convention organised by his loyalists in Guwahati.

The Mahanta camp insists that it is not in favour of splitting the AGP because that would mean breaking up the Northeast?s largest regional party.

?Unless we are pushed to the wall, we are not going to do anything that will harm the party. We are for strengthening the AGP, not weakening it,? said another Mahanta loyalist, Pranab Goswami.

He said it was for the AGP?s present leadership to decide whether they wanted a united or divided party.

?Our stand is very clear. The party leadership should implement the unanimous decision adopted at the biennial convention in Tezpur in 2003, wherein it was decided that irrespective of who became the president of the party, the steering committee and the executive committee would be formed in consultation with Brindaban Goswami and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta,? Pranab said.

Pranab said the party should implement this decision after absolving Mahanta of all allegations of anti-party activity.

The executive committee will meet on July 3 to take a decision on Mahanta?s reply to the showcause notice that was issued to him recently.

Sangma said recently that the people of Assam should be proud to have a leader like Mahanta and give him the opportunity to lead them again.