Tehelka story adds new twist to Mahanta issue

By Barun Das Gupta

GUWAHATI, AUG. 21. The AGP executive, which met here today, decided to hold a general body meeting of the party on September 6 at Guwahati, the party president, Mr. Biraj Sharma, told mediapersons after a stormy session lasting six hours. The meeting would be a routine one and nothing should be read into it, he said.

Mr. Sharma, who is the `officiating' party chief, presided over the meeting, though Mr. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was present throughout, along with his wife, Mrs. Jayashree Goswami Mahanta.

Mr. Sharma only read out the resolutions adopted but insiders said the majority of the leaders rallied behind Mr. Mahanta today dismissing his `second marriage' story as a Congress-inspired conspiracy at character assassination.

The Tehelka.com website story that an Assam Congress minister had given Rs. 15 lakh to the woman whom Mr. Mahanta is supposed to have married, to involve Mr. Mahanta in the scandal, came in handy for Mr. Mahanta and his supporters in the party.

Mr. Sharma held the Congress squarely responsible for the `conspiracy' against Mr. Mahanta and said Tehelka had `exposed' it. He demanded the resignation of Mr. Sarat Barkataki, the State PWD Minister, who, Tehelka alleged, had paid the money to the woman concerned.

However, Mr. Sharma had no answer when asked if the Congress was behind the scandal, why it was targeting Mr. Mahanta now, six months later when he is out of office, instead of exposing him in March when Mr. Mahanta was Chief Minister and was facing Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Home, Mr. Pradyut Bardoloi, stoutly denied the Tehelka charge and said no Congressman had paid any money to anyone to malign Mr. Mahanta.

``Don't provoke us. We know everything. We have all the evidence. But we are not using it (against Mr. Mahanta) because we don't want to take political advantage of somebody's personal affairs,'' Mr. Bardoloi said and reminded Mr. Mahanta that the movements of a Chief Minister could not be `kept secret.'

He said the Chief Minister, Mr. Tarun Gogoi, had `authorized' Mr. Barkataki to take legal action against Tehelka. Mr. Bardoloi also questioned the identity of the Tehelka reporter, who did the story, maintaining that no one with that name lived at Guwahati. `Even if she came from outside the State, she did not meet Mr. Barkataki, or anyone in the APCC for that matter, nor any local newspapers,' he said.

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