Citizenship Bill: Three Asom Gana Parishad Ministers Resign From Assam Cabinet

Guwahati: Three Asom Gana Parishad Ministers Wednesday resigned from the Assam Cabinet, two days after their party exited the government over the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Water Resources Minister Keshav Mahanta and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Phanibhushan Choudhury submitted their resignations to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the state secretariat here, Bora told reporters after submitting their resignations.

The AGP had pulled out of the BJP-led coalition government a day before the bill seeking to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan was passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the AGP executive met at the party headquarters here to discuss the resignations and the future course of action.

Bora, who is also the party president, told reporters after the meeting that he would announce the party’s future strategy regarding the bill after submitting their resignations.

The AGP pulled out of the state government after its “last-ditch attempt to convince” the Centre to withdrew the proposed legislation failed on Monday.

The withdrawal of the AGP, which has 14 MLAs in the 126-member assembly, will not have any immediate effect on the future of the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government that still has the backing of 74 MLAs.

The BJP has 61 members and the party has support of 12 MLAs of the Bodoland People’s Front and the sole Independent member.

The opposition Congress and the All Indian United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have 25 and 13 members respectively.