DIBRUGARH, Jan 19 - A firebrand Assam agitation leader and a former AASU assistant general secretary, Bipul Das today formally joined the AGP at a function here at the Amolapatty Natya Mandir auditorium. Several other citizens joined the regional party today, along with Das, who is now in his early 50s.
The �welcome ceremony� into the AGP fold was presided over by Dr Kamini Ranjan Baruah. Those who joined today included retired college teacher Sahera Khatun, former AASU leaders Dharjya Gogoi and Biswajit Das, Prasanta Sarmah and Mahavir Saheb.
Speaking to this newspaper, AGP local secretary Dipom Baruah said the party has got a fresh lease of life with Bipul Das joining in today. He said Bipul Das could be the party�s candidate for the Dibrugarh LAC seat. If that happens, the regional party is all set to put up a good fight against the Congress candidate. It is widely speculated that the Congress would field former Dibrugarh municipal chairman, Chandra Kanta Baruah, given his strong support base here. However, the party has other strong hopefuls too. Locals here are of the opinion that the BJP would lose Dibrugarh decisively if it fields sitting MLA Prasanta Phukan, who has become controversial, lost ethnic public support and is mired in allegations of corruption.