North Lakhimpur: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a coalition partner in the BJP-led Assam government, has suffered a major setback in the newly formed 74 Ranganadi Legislative Assembly Constituency (LAC) in Lakhimpur district, following a wave of resignations triggered by senior leader Jayanta Khaund’s exit from the party on Friday evening.
Khaund, the finance secretary of the AGP, has been a prominent figure in the regional party’s leadership for over two decades.
He had earlier contested the Assembly elections from the erstwhile 110 Nowboicha LAC as an AGP candidate in 2016 and 2021, and as an independent candidate in 2011. However, Khaund was denied a party ticket this time due to the seat-sharing arrangement between the AGP and the BJP.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP had allocated the Nowboicha seat to its ally AGP. The decision had then triggered dissent within the BJP ranks, with ticket aspirant late Rao Gajendra Singh contesting as an independent candidate.
Khaund had reportedly been preparing for several months to contest from the 74 Ranganadi LAC as an AGP candidate in the upcoming elections. Announcing his resignation, Khaund said there was “no sense in remaining, working and sacrificing in AGP.”
While his next political move remains unclear, Khaund’s exit has triggered a wave of resignations from AGP leaders and workers in the Ranganadi constituency.
On Saturday, Manoj Baruah, general secretary of the Ranganadi Asom Yuva Parishad — the youth wing of AGP — resigned from the party, following Khaund’s departure. Several other party functionaries also stepped down, including Krishna Kumar Gogoi (publicity secretary), Nabajyoti Mili (assistant secretary), Samson Chetia, Dimple Gogoi (general secretary of AGP’s student wing Chatra Parishad), Deepak Saikia (vice president of Ranganadi Asom Yuva Parishad), Madhav Saikia (organisational secretary), Ratul Deori (finance secretary), Divyajyoti Deori, Anupam Borpatra, Mukul Dutta, Diganta Bora, and Janardan Vaidya, among others.
Grassroots workers of the AGP in Ranganadi — many of whom claim to have been associated with the party since its inception in 1985 — expressed anger and frustration over the party leadership’s decision to deny Khaund a ticket, calling it a “betrayal”.
Political observers believe that the mass desertion of AGP leaders and workers in Ranganadi could significantly influence electoral dynamics in the newly created constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections.