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Mahanta's chair rocks as never before

A Special Correspondent

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta can feel the tremors, the wobbling of his chair. Till Wednesday, these appeared manageable.

But now, with former home minister Bhrigu Kumar Phukan lending support to Asom Gana Parishad general secretary Atul Bora against Mahanta, the AGP president, the crisis has deepened, threatening the two-year-old government.

Bora, who till recently was the public works department minister, resigned Monday after he was shifted to the forest department. He immediately launched an oust-Mahanta campaign with active support from two ministers and several MLAs. Phukan's throwing in his hat with him is the latest episode in the drama.

The Bora camp is to arrive at a final decision on Saturday.

Phukan's decision came after a lengthy closed-door meeting with Bora on Wednesday night. "Mahanta has become a liability for the party," he said, "The AGP is suffering under him."

Interestingly, Bora and Phukan were rivals till a few days ago. Mahanta had maintained that Bora played a major role in sidelining Phukan in the last few years.

The Congress has given the Bora-Phukan combine, which claims to have the requisite number to overthrow Mahanta, a shot in the arm, saying it would not mind helping their fight. Bora, now that Phukan is with him, may also be supported by the People's Democratic Front and Autonomous State Demand Committee. Together, the smaller parties have 11 MLAs.

Meanwhile, Bora said he is planning to go to Delhi to apprise the prime minister and home minister about Mahanta's 'failure to tackle law and order.'

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