Guwahati, Feb 26 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday offered to quit politics if charges of the Congress party winning elections with the help of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was proved.
“I am ready to quit politics if anybody can prove that we had links or (were) helped by the ULFA to win elections,” the chief minister told journalists here.

Gogoi was reacting to statements by leaders of the pro-talk ULFA faction that the all political parties in Assam, including the Congress party, received direct or indirect help to win elections.

“If we took ULFA’s help then how could we have carried out the tough anti-insurgency measures against them. In fact, the ULFA killed and attacked a number of our leaders and even prevented me from voting in my constituency in the past,” Gogoi said.

“I don’t know whether other political parties took ULFA’s help during elections, but I can boldly say that the Congress party never took ULFA’s help,” Gogoi said.

The chief minister, meanwhile, lashed out at the opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for its pre-poll tie up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

“The AGP has lost its regional character and it is evident as the party had conceded almost all the prestigious seats to the BJP,” Gogoi said.

The AGP-BJP has worked out a seat sharing arrangement to fight the Lok Sabha elections, although the two parties are yet to formally announce the seats on which they are to contest.