Guwahati, Nov. 22: The AGP seems unable to decide whether merely distancing itself from the “secret killings” and blaming Prafulla Kumar Mahanta will be enough for it to emerge with its reputation intact.

Four hours of discussion last evening culminated in the party leadership opting for a panel of legal experts to do the thinking on its behalf.

Since the K.N. Saikia Commission has indicted Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for the extra-judicial killings between 1998 and 2001 — he was then the chief minister and in charge of the home department — the majority of AGP members believes blaming him for everything is the most practical solution.

“In a way, those who have been advocating Mahanta’s return to the party received a setback,” a senior AGP leader who attended the meeting said.

That the AGP ranks were confused by the findings of the commission became clear when president Brindaban Goswami did a U-turn on Mahanta within three days of standing by him in the Assembly. All of a sudden, he accepted the reality of the extra-judicial killings during the period when his party was last in power and blamed the then chief minister for the crimes.

Working president Phani Bhusan Choudhury and other Mahanta loyalists questioned the change in Goswami’s views, necessitating yesterday’s meeting to finalise the party’s stand on the issue.

The general view was that the erstwhile AGP-led government could not be blamed since the killings did not take place with the cabinet’s consent. But nobody could satisfactorily answer why Mahanta was not replaced if the party was opposed to the policy of killing relatives and friends of Ulfa militants unwilling to surrender.

The AGP leadership was also unable to decide what action it should take against legislator Nurul Hussain, who was indicted in one case.