Patowary out of AGP race

Chandra Mohan Patowary talks to reporters in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, April 22: The AGP is set to get a new president and working president with the incumbent president, Chandra Mohan Patowary, deciding to withdraw from the April 26 election after his efforts for a consensus candidate “failed to yield” any result.

Patowary, who took over as the AGP president in 2008, was one of the contenders for the party’s top post, but today announced that he would neither contest the election nor cast his vote, unless it turned out to be the deciding factor.

“Since I took charge as the AGP president and united the party, I have been trying to face the party’s challenges together. I had continued my efforts till the last minute today to choose a consensus candidate for the party president but as it did not work out, I have decided to stay away from the race. I will cast my vote only in case it becomes a deciding factor,” Patowary told reporters at the party headquarters.

The announcement came hours after former party president and two-time chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta filed his nomination papers and entered the straight fight against Padma Hazarika in the election to the post of the party president on April 26.

A source said Patowary had decided to stay away from the race following continuous parleys with Mahanta camp, which continued till late last night.

The election to the post working president election is also likely to be a straight fight between Atul Bora (junior) and Kumar Dipak Das (Rajya Sabha MP), who filed their papers today, the last day for filing nominations.

A source said even as senior party leader Keshav Mahanta tried to push the incumbent working president Phani Bhushan Chowdhury, he declined to contest for a consecutive term, facilitating Das to contest against Bora.

A member of the party’s central election committee, Bijon Kumar Mahajan, said as many as 12 candidates filed their papers for the five posts of general secretaries. Prominent leaders who are to contest the election for the posts of general secretary include Keshav Mahanta, Ramen Kalita, Joseph Toppo, Hiranya Konwar and Nazrul Hussain.

A total of 34 candidates are contesting for the posts of 21 central executive members.