Guwahati, Feb 20 : Major political parties in Assam have issued an unwritten 'gag order' forcing its members not to speak to the media in a bid to save the emerging alliances.

Already all the three major coalitions in Assam, namely BJP-AGP, Congress-BPF and Third Front, have been affected by barrage of statements coming from the middle and junior party functionaries, making seat adjustment a very difficult task.

''There is no official gag order, but it is better to speak in one voice and there are officially appointed spokespersons who will speak on any matter related to the party to the media,'' AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary said.

The AGP has been the worst-hit as their alliance with the BJP was in danger of being jeopardised following verbal shootout by the mid-ranking leaders, which has been capitalised by the rival Congress.

As the alliance was almost in danger of falling out, senior BJP leader Bijoya Chakravarty had to resurrect it by holding a press conference especially to clear the misgivings.

''A section of the media has been used by the Congress to spread false inputs about other parties to create confusion,'' she said, while her party also issued gag order as the aspirants were crowding to get tickets.

Last night, as more than 120 BJP members applied for 14 Lok Sabha tickets, not one was allowed to speak to the media as the BJP made it clear that all statements would be given by their official spokesperson Harendra Pratap, at least till the tickets were distributed.

The Congress was also equally troubled as Bodo leaders and the Congress middle level leaders were harping different tunes, forcing the party state leadership to stop all of them from speaking to the media.

The Third Front leaders were however, firing almost like a loose cannon as everybody was taking a different stance, causing the rift between the CPI(M) and Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) to widen further. The Third Front is constituted of the CPI, CPI(M), AUDF, SP and NCP.

As both the AUDF and CPI(M) are fighting hard for the Silchar seat, AUDF chief Badaruddin Ajmal also became cautious and was allowing only the spokesperson of the front to speak to the media.

''I shall not open my mouth now. Only the spokesperson of the Third Front will say anything, otherwise I shall be misinterpreted,'' he said.

All the three alliances are now entering the crucial phase of picking up their 14 candidates for the Assam Lok Sabha seats and the simmering tension is about to spill out once the names are announced.

--- UNI