BJP hints at snapping ties with AGP in Assam

GUWAHATI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday almost put an end to the year-long honeymoon with Assam’s main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) by hinting to fight the 2011 assembly elections on its own and take power in the state.

“If they (AGP) want an alliance we can talk, or else we are ready to fight the 2011 elections on our own,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari told journalists at the end of a two-day visit to Guwahati.

On Monday, the BJP president was even more vocal about snapping ties with the AGP.

“We have asked our party cadres to work towards having a BJP chief minister in Assam by next year,” Gadkari told a public rally in the city.

The BJP and AGP had an electoral understanding during the 2009 Lok Sabha election although the AGP in recent months has maintained a distance from the former.

The electoral tie-up proved disastrous for the AGP, which won just one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP bagged four seats.

The AGP-BJP tie up in the 2001 assembly elections also did not work out, with the combine routed by the Congress party.

“We are concentrating on strengthening our grassroot level workers in the state to make the party strong and vibrant,” the BJP president said.

Gadkari was also critical of the Congress.

“Corruption is rampant in Assam and yet the government claims all is well. The people of Assam would never accept such a corrupt government,” he said.