Mahanta: Defiant

New Delhi/Guwahati, July 5: Breaking his silence two days after being expelled from the party he helped form 20 years ago, former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today said he would continue to be a force to reckon with in politics even without the AGP.

“The decision to expel me was the outcome of personal ambitions. But let me tell you, nobody will be able to drive me away from regional politics,” Mahanta said.

Though he did not name anybody, it was apparent that he held party president Brindaban Goswami and his clique responsible for his ouster.

Mahanta was holidaying in Mussoorie when the AGP steering committee decided to expel him, a move that was immediately endorsed by the executive body. He returned to New Delhi today.

The former chief minister refused to acknowledge that he had in any way acted against the interests of the party or the state. He said his passion to work for the betterment of Assam would not diminish, irrespective of his political affiliation.

“In 1985, the AGP was formed with the people’s support and they twice gave me a chance to form the government. I will continue to work for Assam,” Mahanta said.

Immediately after his expulsion from the AGP, there was speculation that Mahanta would meet leaders from national parties in a bid to strike an alliance for the Assembly elections, due early next year. Speculation was also rife that he would call on the Election Commissioner to stake claim to the party’s symbol.

Mahanta declined to comment on reports that he was trying to cobble up a “third front” in the state with non-Congress “secular” parties. “I will take a decision only after consulting my colleagues and supporters in the next couple of days,” he said.

The expelled leader will reach Guwahati tomorrow.

In Assam, protests continued against Mahanta’s expulsion. A 12-hour bandh called by his loyalists paralysed life in their leader’s home district, Nagaon.

A Mahanta aide said the formation of a new regional party was just a formality. “He is coming from New Delhi tomorrow and the picture will become clear just after his arrival. We will receive him at the airport and bring him in a convoy of more than 60 vehicles. We will sit with him later to flesh out our strategy.”

On the other hand, the embattled AGP president said the Congress and the BJP might have engineered the “so-called protests by a handful of people” in the wake of Mahanta’s expulsion. He made the remark in Dibrugarh.

Hundreds of Mahanta supporters burned effigies of Goswami in Dhubri and Nagaon.