Mahanta doesn’t have the numbers: Rebels

On the strength of this argument, Atul Bora said that the Governor should now immediately convene a special sitting of the state Assembly and direct Mahanta to seek a vote of confidence.

"I know Mahanta cannot afford to face the state Assembly. More than 70 MLAs will vote against him," the rebel leader, who had quit the Mahanta Government on May 18following a reshuffle in the ministry, said. Bora’s is not the lone voice making the demand.

State Congress president Tarun Gogoi too has made the same request. Gogoi said here on Saturday that the Governor should immediately convene an emergency session of the Assembly and find out whether Mahanta’s claim that he enjoyed a majority was true.

The AGP, it may be recalled, has 64 members in the 124-member Assembly. According to Gogoi and Bora, even if the five Left MLAs and the lone member of the United People’s Party of Assam (UPPA) extend support to him, Mahanta would not be able to win a motion of confidence.

A confident Mahanta however has already left for upper Assam today to campaign for the AGP nominees in the Margherita and Naoboicha Assembly constituencies, by-elections to which are slated for Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, the Mahanta camp had paraded as many as 47 of the party MLAs at the same time claiming that eight others had also pledged allegiance to the Chief Minister.

The MLAs werepresented before the press, with party spokesman Digen Bora and vice-president Biraj Kumar Sarma also claiming that efforts were on the bring the dissidents back home.

Significantly, Mahanta had stayed away from the press conference, while support letters from those MLAs who were out of station were read out to the newsmen. "There is no need for calling a meeting of the Legislative party to find out which side had what strength", spokesman Digen Bora had declared.