Major shake-up in ASDC, autonomous council

DIPHU, July 20: The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) convention held here today took major decisions on restructuring the party and reallocating responsibilities of Chief Executive Member and executive members. All these decisions were taken amid walk-out by members belonging to Holiram Terang and Jotson Bey group both in the Standing Committee meeting and Central Committee meetings of the party. As per decision Jayanta Rongpi has been replaced by Chandra Kanta Terang as the President of ASDC while Holiram Terang has been replaced by Hem Sing Tisso as the General Secretary of the ASDC. Earlier, Chandra Kanta Terang was the vice-president of ASDC and Hem Sing Tisso will be a general secretary of the Karbi Students Association (KSA). Tisso is now MLA from Diphu. As per the decision of the meeting five members of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), including Chairman Babu Rongpi, CEM Jotson Bey, executive members Rabi Kumar Phagso, Frenchis Teron and Ram Singh Tokli have been removed from the council and given party responsibilities in their respective district ASDC committees. All these decisions were taken first by the Standing Committee having 17 members, which were later approved by the Central Committee having 55 members. Significantly, seven members of the Standing Committee led by the Chief Executive Members (CEM) of the Autonomous Council, Jotson Bey walked out of the meeting. Even, Holiram Terang though attended the meeting for sometime declined to put his signature on the proceedings. Similarly, in the Central Committee meeting 22 members belonging to Holiram Terang group walked out demanding postponement of the meeting. Jayanta Rongpi today advised that the present crisis in ASDC stems from his differences with Holiram Terang and his followers. "The set-back for ASDC is a clash of ideology between me and Terang which has extended to personal level." The meeting also decided to initiate disciplinary action against those leaders who have gone to press about party matters recently and thereby maligned the image of the party. The action will be taken by respective district ASDC units. On disciplinary ground, Rabindra Rongpi, has been dropped from the Standing Committee today.