BJP-led Assam govt should face fresh elections: AGP

The BJP-led government in Assam

should face fresh elections, senior AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said Tuesday, a day after the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) pulled the plug on the saffron party over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

The AGP pulled out of the coalition government after its attempt to convince the Centre to withdraw the proposed legislation failed on Monday.

"The BJP-led government was formed in Assam on the

basis of a pre-poll alliance with the AGP. As this alliance no

longer exists now, we demand that the current Assam government be dissolved," Mahanta said here.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to people

from minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,

Parsis and Christians -- from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and

Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12

even if they do not possess any proper document.

The Bill has been opposed by large sections of people

and organisations in the Northeast.

PTI ESB NN SRY