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Milkha Singh's refusal to accept the Arjuna Award has sparked off a heated debate over the country's highest sporting honour. This year's controversial list is being seen as the straw that broke the camel's back. Leading sports people believe the award has been devalued and compromised by political lobbying.

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A.K. Antony, a one-time Nehruvian socialist, is winning the support of industry as well as Central funds in his new avatar as the harbinger of reforms in the economically beleaguered state.

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Poor sex ratio has forced the Gurjjars of Rajasthan to share their wives.

STATES: ASSAM

Tied Up In Knots

Prafulla Mahanta is confronted with a bigamy case that could end his political career

It is perhaps the sauciest story ever to have hit the headlines in contemporary Assam. A fetching beauty goes to town swearing that former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta-a father of three-had married her in a secret ceremony in a Mumbai temple. The news has created a media frenzy, rocked the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the state's main opposition party, and almost cost Mahanta his job as the party's president.

Initially not many took the rumours of Mahanta's alleged second marriage seriously. Then came the bombshell: Sanghamitra Bharali, a junior employee of the state Assembly in Guwahati, gave a signed interview to a local weekly saying that Mahanta had married her at the Vighneswar Ganesh temple at Versova, Mumbai. Bharali, a classical singer, said Mahanta's security officers, including a superintendent of police, and the then minister for rural development Sahidul Alam Choudhury attended the ceremony between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. on March 11, 2001.

She sticks to her story, although Pravin Aacharya, the priest at the temple, says he had not performed any wedding that day. Bharali is married too, to Monideep Das, a veterinarian, and has a 12-year-old son.

Mahanta, 49, has never been in so tight a spot in his 16-year political career. "This is a political conspiracy by the Congress to jeopardise my political and family life," Mahanta told India Today. "I lead a happy family life with my wife and three children." Wife Jayashree Goswami, an ambitious politician and former Rajya Sabha member, gives her husband a clean chit. "I know he is innocent," she says.

The ruling Congress has also been dragged into the controversy-a news website accused PWD Minister Sarat Barkataky of giving Bharali Rs 15 lakh to go public with her claim. He hit back: "This is a bogus charge ... to divert public attention, protect Mahanta and save the AGP."

In the interview, Bharali has given a blow-by-blow account of what supposedly happened after the "marriage". She says the couple had dinner in her apartment in Andheri (No. 503 Godavari Apartments near the MHADA telephone office, which Mahanta has purportedly put in her name). Then, they went to the Oberoi where they occupied the Kashmiri Suite for two days before Mahanta left for Delhi on March 13. Mahanta did, in fact, stay at the Oberoi between March 11 and 13 during an official visit to Mumbai. The watchman at the apartment, Sachindra, says Bharali often came to her flat with some "VIP saab".

Disciplinary proceedings are now being launched against Bharali, for it is against the rules for a government employee to enter into a second marriage while the first one is still valid. "We were aware of the difficulties because both of us are already married," Bharali says. "I feel devastated that Mahanta has chosen to deny everything now."

When he led the nascent AGP to victory and became one of India's youngest chief ministers in 1985, Mahanta was regarded by the Assamese as infallible. Over the years, his image has taken a beating. First, there were accusations of involvement in a multi-crore letter-of-credit scam. Then in May, the AGP lost the elections to the Congress. Now, with the bigamy allegation, Mahanta is likely to lose his grip over the AGP.

At a heated AGP executive meeting on August 21, Mahanta said, "I'm not guilty. The truth will emerge soon." Mahanta has handed over the party presidentship to senior colleague Biraj Kumar Sharma until October, but his political future probably hangs on the decision the party's general council will take when it meets on September 6. Sources say members of the executive committee are likely to resign en masse to enable the party to elect a new committee, including a new president.

Even if he is elected president again, Mahanta will find it hard to lead the party. His father Devakanta Mahanta was quoted as saying, "How will Prafulla face the masses again? It's up to him to clear his name." How he does this must be keeping Mahanta awake at night.

—Wasbir Hussain with Sheela Raval

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