Career
He became the chief minister in the state when the AGP came to power in 1985. He served as the chief minister of the state for two terms, (1985–1990) and (1996–2001). He is a former president of the All Assam Students Union, a student organization that spearheaded the Assam Movement between 1979 and 1985.
In August 2005, his membership in the AGP was terminated.
He was re-inducted into the AGP after the AGP (Progressive) was dissolved during the Presidency of Chandra Mohan Patowary. In a 2010 interview on NDTV in Walk the Talk with Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express, Prafulla Mahanta said,
In the same interview he said that unknown agencies of the Congress Party had conspired in massacres during the Assam Movement in the early eighties.
On September 4, 2010 he was unanimously elected as the Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly. Aside from the current chief minister of the state, Prafulla Mahanta is regarded as the most powerful and influential politician of Assam.
Mahanta was appointed as the chief adviser of this front.
On July 14, 2014 he resigned as the President of Asom Gana Parishad after its debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
