GUWAHATI, May 23 - For the second consecutive time, the regional party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) scored a blank in the Lok Sabha elections. A junior partner in the ruling alliance, AGP had fielded its candidates in the Kaliabor, Barpeta and Dhubri seats.
�The early trends were on expected lines, as our candidate Kumar Dipak Das was maintaining a lead in Barpeta from the beginning and Mani Madhab Mahanta was also leading in Kaliabor. However, things went against us later in the day,� a dejected AGP supporter said.
The party office on GNB Road, Ambari wore a deserted look with only a handful of supporters sitting in front of the TV screen watching the trends. In contrast to the jubilant atmosphere at the head office of its alliance partner BJP, the AGP supporters were quiet, just expecting the vote margin of Kumar Dipak Das to grow higher till late in the evening.
Most of the AGP leaders stayed away from the party headquarters. Party president Atul Bora was in Bokakhat, his Assembly constituency.
After parting ways with the ruling alliance and the State government on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 in January this year, the AGP came back for a re-alliance in March ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, despite protests from within the party.
As per the seat-sharing agreement, the AGP got three Lok Sabha constituencies. Party president Atul Bora had publicly accepted that they were given tough seats as the three constituencies have �different population patterns�.
Meanwhile, after the emerging trends of the results today, Bora congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah along with other members of the NDA on its magnificent show across the country.
�The work done by the NDA in the past five years, thrust on national security, well-planned political strategies and people�s trust on the members of the alliance contributed to the NDA�s victory,� Bora said.
He thanked the candidates and grassroots workers of the regional party for their hard work and dedication.
