Guwahati, Nov. 27: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today "unanimously" amended the party's constitution, which enabled incumbent president and state agriculture minister Atul Bora to secure a second term of three years at the helm of the party.
Bora was re-elected unopposed for his second consecutive term as the AGP president at a general house meeting of the party held at its Ambari headquarters here today.
Almost all the senior leaders of the party, including former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, were present at the meeting.
The general house amended a clause in the party constitution that makes one-man-one-post mandatory. This amendment paved the way for re-election of the current president, who will also continue to hold the additional post of a cabinet minister.
This clause was inserted in the party constitution in 2011 when Chandra Mohan Patowary was the party chief.
The general house today empowered Bora to reconstitute the central committee of the party by nominating the working president and general secretaries.
State water resources minister Keshab Mahanta, who is the current working president of the party, is likely to continue in the post for the next three years.
Majority of the party's district committees supported Bora's re-election since it was under his leadership that the party forged an alliance with the BJP and came to power in the state in alliance after a gap of 15 years. The AGP has 14 MLAs, including the two ministers in the Sarbananda Sonowal government.
After his election, Bora vowed to oppose the constitutional amendment proposed by the Centre to grant citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who illegally entered Assam to escape religious persecution. The issue of Bangladeshi Hindu migrants remains a bone of contention between the AGP and the BJP as the latter is in favour of the amendment. The AGP wants that all illegal migrants, irrespective of their religion, should be detected and deported according to the Assam Accord.
Bora said making the party stronger with the help of workers across the state will remain his top priority.
Bora, who was the AGP working president, took charge as the party president in July 2014 after Mahanta stepped down taking responsibility for the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha, panchayat and municipal elections in the state.
Mahanta today congratulated Bora and hoped that he will take the party in the right direction and it will become stronger under his leadership. Though Mahanta has so far not expressed his mind, there are talks of his "rehabilitation" by appointing him as a governor since being a former chief minister, he cannot be made a minister in the state government.
