Prafulla Mahanta still symbolises AGP for manyKaliabor (Assam) : Reclining in a bamboo chair outside his mud-and-straw hut, octogenarian Babul Das is locked in a verbal duel with his college-going grandson.
The debate is getting heated with the argument revolving on who is the leader of Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). Is Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, two-time former chief minister and founder of the AGP, still the party president or is he the leader of the breakaway regional party?
"Don't try to fool me by saying Mahanta is no longer the leader of the AGP. You think I have lost touch with the world after losing my eyesight," Das told his grandson angrily.
A few more community elders passing by the roadside joined the lively debate in this village of Kaliabor in eastern Assam's Nagaon district, about 170 km from the state capital Guwahati.
But the old man simply refuses to accept that Mahanta is no longer with the AGP even though he had formed the AGP-Progressive after being expelled from the party last year.
"I don't believe for a moment. But if it is true then this could be the nail in the coffin of the AGP as far as electoral politics is concerned," Das shouted at the motley crowd of about half-a-dozen villagers that had assembled in his courtyard.
Assam goes to the polls April 3 and 10 to elect a 126-member legislature.
Das may not be abreast with the leadership change in the AGP, but his analysis of the implications of Mahanta's ouster from the party could well turn out to be prophetic when counting of votes takes place May 11.
Mahanta had formed the AGP in 1985 after signing the historic Assam Accord. The AGP ruled Assam under Mahanta's leadership twice before being routed by the Congress in the 2001 assembly elections.
He was expelled from the party last year on a charge of anti-party activities that prompted the former chief minister to form a new party, AGP-Progressive. While the vertical split in the party came as a big gift for the ruling Congress, the AGP may face the brunt in the elections with a large number of Mahanta loyalists drifting away from its fold.
"Many of us support the AGP for Mahanta and maybe we would still stick to our leader," said Runumi Hazarika, a woman activist in Mahanta's constituency Kaliabor.
The AGP led by Brindabon Goswami, however, refuses to accept that Mahanta's exit and formation of a splinter faction could ruin the party's poll prospects.
"Mahanta is not going to be a factor in the elections," a senior AGP leader said.
Despite such optimism, ground realities appear to be different and it is too early to write off Mahanta's political innings.
Mahanta's AGP-Progressive is unlikely to put up a good showing in the elections, but it has all the potential to spoil the AGP's winning chances by dividing the regional party votes.
