Rocked by sex scandals and bigamy charges, all top leaders of an opposition party, aligned with India's ruling coalition, will quit the party, party sources said Thursday.
"All executive members of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will resign before the September 6 general council meeting to enable the party to discuss the scandals in an impartial and objective manner," a top AGP leader told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The decision by the AGP executive members to quit en masse came after angry protests from several "senior- and middle-ranking leaders" who demanded action against those whose names figured in the alleged sex scandals, rape and bigamy charges.
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, former chief minister and leader of the AGP, which ruled the northeastern state of Assam until May, temporarily resigned last week after being accused of illegally marrying his mistress.
Mahanta, who denies any second marriage, was forced to step down following a a chorus of demands from the party rank and file.
The media in Assam have run a series of news reports alleging Mahanta secretly married an Assam government official, Sanghamitra Bharali, in the western commercial hub of Bombay in March.
The embarrassing allegation is just the latest for the AGP.
Earlier this month, police arrested 50-year-old Rajendra Mushahary, a fomer AGP minister, on charges of raping a minor tribal girl.
Another former AGP minister, Jatin Mali, was accused by his 21-year-old maid of rape in May.
"The allegations, although a political conspiracy, have affected the image of the party," said senior AGP leader and former minister Zoii Nath Sharma.
"There is a need for change in the AGP to give the party a new direction mainly after the poll debacle in May," he added.
Meanwhile, a senior minister in the ruling Congress party, Sarat Borkotoky, said he would file a 50 million-rupee (1.06 million dollar) defamation suit against a news website, tehelka.com.
The website in a report accused the minister of paying 1.5 million rupees to Bharali to make the news of her "second marriage" to Mahanta public.
"If Tehelka.com fails to respond to my legal notice within seven days then the matter would be taken to court," Borkotoky said.
The charge comes as Tehelka.com provokes threats of prosecution in New Delhi after it admitted organizing prostitutes for army officials in its expose of corruption.
Its videotaped accounts of army officials ready to accept bribes led to the resignation in March of defense minister George Fernandes -- GUWAHATI, India (AFP)
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