The Assam unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday snubbed the Asom Gana Parishad and virtually rejected the AGP's move to forge a grand alliance of all Opposition parties.
State BJP president Ranjit Dutta said his party would contest all 126 Assembly seats and there was no “secret understanding” with any other party.
The BJP claimed that the party would play a crucial role in the formation of the next non-Congress government in Assam.
The AGP had earlier announced that it would not field candidates against the BJP State chief, the Communist Party of India, the CPI (M) and the All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) as a gesture towards forging a grand alliance to defeat the ruling Congress. But, AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary's announcement failed to evoke a positive response.
The AIUDF too rejected the AGP gesture and announced that it would not enter into any such poll understanding. AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal said the AGP, by announcing not to field any candidate against the State BJP chief, indicated the “secret understanding” between the AGP and the BJP.
Hence, the AIUDF could not have any poll pact with the AGP and would go it alone in the Assembly polls as of now.
The AGP's gesture came despite the regional party formally deciding to sever tie-up with the BJP and one of its general secretaries, Sarbananda Sonowal, quitting the party and joining the BJP.
The AGP has almost finalised a seat-sharing understanding with three regional parties — the Bodoland People's Progressive Front (BPPF), the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and the Ganasakti. The AGP has already announced the first list of 31 candidates. The CPI State unit announced its first list of 22 candidates on Tuesday.
The two Left parties have called for defeating the Congress and the BJP in the Assembly polls.
