Sangma predicts hung assembly for Assam

Shillong, April 18 (IANS) Predicting a hung assembly following elections in Assam, former Lok Sabha speaker and veteran Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Purno A. Sangma Monday expressed confidence that the Trinamool Congress-led alliance would sweep the polls in West Bengal.

‘Nobody will get the exact number in Assam. The government will be either led by the Congress or the AGP (Asom Gana Parishad),’ Sangma told IANS.

Stating that the ruling Congress will suffer reduced seats in the 126-member Assam house, the veteran NCP leader said: ‘The AGP will improve its position, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) will gain, the AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) will maintain its position, the Trinamool will make its entry and the NCP will improve its position.’

Sangma, however, said that there was an internal movement among the non-Congress parties with the BJP extending outside support to an AGP-led government.

Sangma, who returned to Shillong after campaigning with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, said that the TMC-led alliance would sweep the assembly polls in that state.

‘I believe Mamata will get majority on her own and she will decide whether to carry her pre-poll partners along. But I think she will,’ Sangma said.

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