AGP, BJP fail to break Guwahati impasse

Spl Correspondent NEW DELHI, Jan 29 – The latest round of alliance negotiations between AGP and BJP failed to break the deadlock over sharing Guwahati Lok Sabha seat. The two sides are again slated to meet in the first week of February. Despite the tough bargaining, both the parties sought to convey that the seat sharing arrangement was on track and they would sort out the differences at the next round of talks. “There will be a solution and the seat adjustment will take place,” asserted AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary after the talks. The negotiations scheduled to take place last evening had to be postponed at the last minute because the AGP president’s flight got delayed. The two sides formally met here this morning at BJP national president, Rajnath Singh’s house. Patowary, Padma Hazarika, Phani Bhusan Choudhury, Kumar Deepak Das and Biren Baishya represented AGP among others. The BJP team was small comprising Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Sudhansu Mittal, who used to be a close aide of Pramod Mahajan.Sources said that both sides remained adamant on Guwahati seat and the discussions today mainly centred on it. The BJP has stepped up pressure on AGP to relent. Sushma Swaraj, in particular was very keen that the BJP fight from Guwahati seat and she has reportedly suggested that Bijoya Chakraborty stood a better chance of wresting it. Swaraj, sources said, met couple of AGP leaders separately to resolve the impasse.Trying to drive a hard bargain, AGP leaders told BJP that Guwahati seat was a prestigious seat for them, as their headquarter was in the city. Besides, it was pointed out, that they were in an advantageous position to win the seat, as AGP held four Assembly segments under the Parliamentary constituency.The meeting on Thursday ended on the note that the two sides meet again in the first week of February. Patowary and BJP national president would meet on January 30-31, when Singh would be in Guwahati, en-route to Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP national president keen on announcing the alliance at Guwahati, but it may not happen, as AGP insisted on hold another round of talk. The negotiations, so far is struck over the Guwahati seat, even as the two parties have managed to negotiate rest of the 13 seats. Meanwhile, talking to reporters, Patowary said that AGP and BJP were unlikely to fight the forthcoming polls on a common agenda. “We are not part of the NDA and our pact is limited to only seat sharing arrangement,” he said.However, said the AGP president, “ We have requested the BJP leadership to include some of the common points in their agenda, as well.”The ‘common points’ included sealing of the Indo-Bangladesh border, declaration of the flood and erosion problem as a national problem and negotiated peace settlement with all insurgent outfits, disclosed the AGP president.Meanwhile, the BJP is making some changes in its organisational set up in Assam, ahead of the Parliament polls. Sources indicated that S.S. Ahluwalia, Rajya Sabha MP and Sudhansu Mittal might be appointed as in-charge for the State.The case of Mittal, a businessman by profession, is curious because of his keen interest in Assam politics. Considered a moneybag in the party, he was a very close associate of late Pramod Mahajan and came in contact with Assam politics, when Mahajan was in-charge for the State. The State BJP leaders, who eye him with suspicion, have resented his growing closeness with AGP leadership. source: assam tribune