Guwahati, Sept. 9: Barely 10 days after a compromise formula was worked out to avert a split in the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), members of the main Opposition party in the state are back to fighting among themselves.
Its newly elected working president Phani Bhusan Choudhury has declared a revolt against party president Brindaban Goswami.
Choudhury’s followers are peeved with the non-inclusion of “adequate representatives” of their camp in the new executive committee of the party.
They alleged breach of trust following an agreement between the two camps on August 31 to avoid a direct contest for the post of party president.
They said according to the agreement, Goswami was to constitute the panel in consultation with Choudhury, the working president, to ensure equal representation of the two sides in the committee.
AGP sources said a fuming Choudhury, who had sent a letter to the party president to know why the agreement was violated, was preparing for a showdown with Goswami.
“For the past few days, Choudury has been holding talks with other senior party leaders to chalk out his plan of action,” a senior AGP leader said.
Choudhury had issued an ultimatum to Goswami to accommodate his supporters in the executive committee without delay, he said.
According to a section of Choudhury loyalists, he will wait till the formation of a 17-member steering committee before launching a full-fledged campaign against Goswami.
The executive committee is expected to constitute the steering committee by next month.
The AGP leader said Choudhury had submitted a list of his supporters for their inclusion in the 105-member executive committee but most of them had been left out.
Prominent members of his camp who were denied posts of office-bearers are Pradip Hazarika, Padma Hazarika and Durga Das Boro.
Choudhury wanted Hazarika and Boro as vice-presidents and Padma Hazarika as general secretary of the executive committee.
But Goswami denied them the posts on the ground that the previous office-bearers could not be ignored.
“How can we dump the existing vice-presidents and general secretaries?” a Goswami loyalist asked.
