Guwahati, June 26: AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta continues to grapple with failures more than a year after taking over the reins of the ailing regional party as it fared badly in both the panchayat and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation elections.

Things got even tougher for Mahanta and the party after a group of senior leaders quit from one post or another.

A day after AGP general secretary Hitendra Nath Goswami and six others resigned from the party saying it was time for senior leaders to make way for the young generation, party sources today said a majority of leaders were getting more and more disgruntled with Mahanta’s way of functioning.

Senior party leader Padma Hazarika also resigned today, citing disgruntlement with the state of affairs.

“The party expected certain organisational changes after electing Mahanta in April last year but he has initiated no practical reforms. A poor show of the party in the panchayat elections proved that the people of Assam have lost faith in the leaders associated with it since its birth in 1985 and hence, those leading it should see the writing on the wall and quit. Mahanta was re-elected to bring in young blood and change its style of functioning but nothing has happened, resulting in the debacles in the panchayat and GMC polls,” a senior AGP leader said.

Two general secretaries of the party — Durga Das Boro and Kamala Kalita who are said to be close aides of Mahanta — today admitted that the style of functioning of the party was faulty but denied the possibility of a leadership change. “Mahanta was elected president for three years in accordance with the party constitution and we cannot go against that. Yes, we have tried certain new strategies but nothing has clicked. We will use some new ones to revive the party,” Boro said. The duo, however, refused to elaborate on the “new strategies”.

However, sources told The Telegraph that the party was thinking of taking in a set of new faces in the days to come and that the resignations were nothing but an acceptance by those who had quit that they had not been able to do justice to the posts they were holding. “It is good people are quitting on their own. More than the leadership, the organisation today lack a group of dedicated organisers, new faces and finances to change things. To blame Mahanta for the debacle would be very simple. What can he do if people around him are not delivering or are engaged in anti-party activities?” a source asked.

The sources said though there was a threat to the party, there was no alternative to Mahanta at this point of time. “We have seen that changing Mahanta in 2002 did not help the party. The reigns of either Brindaban or Chandra Mohan Patowary did not help matters but that is not to suggest that Mahanta will continue if he can’t deliver. We hope the present churning will result in something positive,” another said.

Mahanta was at AGP’s helm when it was formed in 1985 following the Assam Agitation. He served as the Assam chief minister in 1985 and 1996 but lost public support during his second tenure. He was, however, re-elected AGP president in April last year.

The development came after AGP managed to win only 10 seats in the 2011 Assembly election.