Guwahati: The Assam BJP has constituted a 21-member committee to take a final call on entering into any alliance for the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.

BJP state general secretary Dilip Saikia on Thursday said the committee, led by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, will decide whether the party would go alone or form an alliance with its regional partners for the polls.

The BJP had contested the last Assembly polls in Assam in alliance with the AGP, the BPF, Rabha Jatiya Aikya Manch, Tiwa Jatiya Oikya Manch and the Ganashakti.

Saikia said the party is prepared for the panchayat polls and their list of candidates is almost ready.

Countering Opposition allegations that the ruling BJP is scared of facing the panchayat polls as their defeat is imminent, Saikia said they are ready for the poll even if it is held tomorrow. "Our party has requested the government and the state election commission to hold the elections as early as possible," he said.

In May, Gauhati High Court had directed the state government and the state election commission to hold the polls by September 15.

The panchayat polls, which will be held in 25 districts of the state, was scheduled in April but had to be postponed after the state government had informed the state election commission that it was in no position to hold the elections as most of its manpower was engaged in updating the National Register of Citizens. The BJP general secretary also hailed the Centre's decision to hike the minimum support price of crops.

Gogoi jab

Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday accused the BJP of trying to "destroy" the panchayati raj system by not holding the rural polls. "The BJP-led state government had announced earlier that they will hold the panchayat election in April but they failed to do so. Now the are taking their time to hold the election. It is clear that the BJP is not willing to hold the panchayat polls at all," he told reporters in Dibrugarh.

Additional reporting by Avik Chakraborty in Dibrugarh