Thaindian News

Guwahati, Oct 1 (IANS) The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Wednesday said Assam’s main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had sought help from the outfit in its proposed bid to unify regional parties in the state.”Although AGP sought our help for their unification bid, we decided to maintain a neutral stand,” ULFA said in its fortnightly mouthpiece Swadhinata or Freedom emailed to IANS.

AGP is attempting revival of its fortunes by reuniting the party that witnessed a vertical split three years back with the unceremonious exit of former two-time chief minister and founder of the regional party Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

AGP leaders last week announced that the decks for the unification had been cleared with Mahanta’s AGP (Progressive), the Trinamool Gana Parishad (TGP), and the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad (PLP), set to re-unite with the parent party Oct 14.

The decision to take back Mahanta as also other smaller parties, the TGP and the PLP, was felt necessary in view of the humiliating defeat suffered by AGP in the recently concluded Panchayat elections in January at the hands of the ruling Congress party. AGP had suffered similar ignominy in the 2001 and the 2006 assembly elections also.

The ULFA statement came down heavily on the AGP’s unification bid, especially criticizing the move by the regional party to take back Mahanta into the partyfold.

Mahanta is accused of being involved in the infamous extra judicial killings (popularly referred in Assam as the secret killings) during his tenure as chief minister between 1996 and 2001. A probe headed by Justice (Retd) K.N. Saikia indicted the former chief minister of involvement in the secret killings.

“Mahanta was involved in the gruesome secret killings during his tenure and the AGP is now once again taking him back to the party merely for political gains. People of Assam are not fools to forget the reign of terror unleashed by Mahanta during his government,” the ULFA statement said.

The recent decision by the AGP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to forge an alliance ahead of next year’s general elections also came under attack from the ULFA.

“AGP has completely forgotten its ideology and is tying up with a communal party like the BJP merely for snatching power and political gains,” the rebel statement said.

ULFA warned that it would not tolerate “wrong doings” and would be forced to take action against anybody indulging in acts not conforming to local interests.