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Former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has decided to relinquish the post of president of the Asom Gana Parishad party for two months beginning August 15, and has handed over charge to party vice president Biraj Sharma.
The decision follows revelations in the local media that Mahanta had entered into a bigamous relationship with Sanghamitra Bharali, an official in the Assam government, in March this year.
The AGP, which was defeated by the Congress in the May 2001 elections, has been rocked by three high profile scandals since then. Former minister Rajendra Mushahary is currently in jail facing charges of rape. Another former minister, Jatin Mali, has been charged with having an illicit relationship with his maid servant. And strike three came when news of the relationship between Mahanta and Bharali exploded in the local media.
Bharali in fact told an Assamese weekly this week that she had married Mahantta in a secret ceremony in Bombay on March 11. The ceremony, Bharali avers, took place at the Ganesh Mandir in the suburb of Versova, in accordance with Vedic rituals. "Former minister Sahidul Alam Choudhury, five priests, and a friend of mine were witnesses, while security officials stood guard outside," Bharali told the weekly.
The couple, according to Bharali, then enjoyed a two day honeymoon at the Kashmir Suite of Hotel Oberoi in Bombay.
Mahanta, however, denied having any relationship with the lady, and has called the allegation "highly concocted, imaginary and totally baseless."
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