Mahanta gears up to float new party

Choudhury and another expelled AGP legislator Utpal Dutta said more and more party workers are aligning with Mahanta and the parallel group would emerge as the ‘‘real’’ AGP.

‘‘We will claim the party’s registered name and the election symbol,’’ Choudhury said. Interestingly, the Mahanta faction, which has several senior AGP leaders either expelled or placed under suspension over the past two months, is holding a two-day political convention here on Wednesday and Thursday, and has put up posters and banners in Guwahati claiming to be the ‘‘real AGP.’’

‘‘We are (with) AGP. We are all regional-minded people. One just cannot throw us out of the party because some individuals have dreams of becoming Chief Minister,’’ Kartik Hazarika, another Mahanta loyalist said. Hazarika had succeeded Mahanta as All Assam Students Union (AASU) president after the student body signed the Assam Accord in 1985 with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

‘‘Mahanta cannot be simply written off or ignored. He is still the most well-known leader of the state and has a large following. The problem is that Brindaban Goswami is being misguided by some outside forces interested in ensuring that regionalism is wiped out,’’ Hazarika said.

Mahanta has been lying low since the AGP lost the 2001 Assembly elections. The defeat was followed by a controversy about a bigamy allegedly committed by Mahanta, following which he quit the party president post and handed over charge to Goswami. Two years later, when the AGP held its biennial convention, Mahanta lost by a big margin to Gowami in a direct election.

A series of restrictions and punitive actions initiated against him by the party prompted Mahanta to openly revolt against Goswami and he was finally expelled last June.

Assam is due to go for Assembly polls next April.