Dhubri, Aug. 2: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) kicked off its election campaign today by launching the Sramik Jagaran Yatra from Dhubri. The yatra will touch all the districts of Assam from Dhubri to Sadiya and finally conclude at Guwahati with a massive rally on October 14 ? the party?s birthday.

Speaking at a public meeting before flagging off the yatra at the Asom Sangha Hall here, AGP vice-president Biraj Kumar Sarma said the yatra would expose the faulty policies of the Congress government. During the two-and-a-half-month-long yatra, the party and its wings will highlight the AGP?s polices. It will also take up the issue of the scrapped Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act.

AGP general secretary Phani Bhusan Choudhury made a scathing attack on the Congress and the BJP. He said both the parties, instead of formulating clear-cut policies that would spur the agricultural and industrial growth in the state, are indulging in petty politics by communising people along the lines of caste, creed and religion. Choudhury also criticised the double standards of the Left parties in the state.

According to sources, during the yatra, the AGP will expose the divisive politics of the Congress and the BJP.

Joint-secretary of the party, Bhupen Roy, said expelled party chief Prafulla Kumar Mahanta?s ?personal motives? had greatly weakened the AGP. Citing an example, Roy said during the last Rajya Sabha election, Mahanta, with the help of two AGP legislators, Ali Akbar Mian and Abdul Jabbar, defeated the party candidate.

On the issue of the scrapping of the IM(DT) Act, Roy said the minority community of Assam has been feeling extremely insecure.

The AGP has been demanding the preparation of the national citizen registration adopting 25th March 1971 as the cut-off year. It also wants a voter list to be prepared on the same basis.

The All Assam Sram Parishad president, Pradeep Konwar, and Asom Yuva Parishad state general secretary Gunajeet Das also addressed the inaugural meeting.