Politics / Assam

Guwahati, Jan. 27: A last-ditch attempt by moderates in the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to avert a contest between party president Brindaban Goswami and challenger Prafulla Kumar Mahanta faded tonight with both leaders sticking to their decision to slug it out at the three-day annual conference, beginning in Tezpur tomorrow.

One of the AGP leaders involved in the exercise said the idea was to put party unity ahead of personal ambition with the Lok Sabha poll being just round the corner.

However, neither Goswami nor Mahanta reportedly considered the proposal to withdraw from the race for the top...

Nagaon, Jan. 27: The anti-talks faction of the militant United People?s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) today announced a campaign against ?outsiders? engaged in agriculture in the twin Assam districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills.

The Karbi Anglong and N.C. Hills People?s Resistance, which is the armed wing of the militant group, said it would not spare anybody found encroaching upon tribal-owned land. It barred transportation of agricultural produce from the twin districts to outside the region.

The Kuki tribe is believed to be the prime target of the Karbi militant group?s campaign...

Guwahati, Jan. 25: The BJP ruled out an electoral alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) before the regional party?s think tank could sit down to decide whether to revive a relationship that benefited neither in the 2001 Assembly poll.

Assam BJP president Indramoni Bora today said his party would go solo in all but one of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state. The decision was taken during the two-day conclave of the executive committee.

The AGP, too, is reportedly not keen on a new alliance with the BJP, but an official decision on this has been kept in abeyance because of the...

Nagaon, Jan. 24: In a move that could widen the ethnic divide in violence-hit Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills districts of Assam, the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) today scrapped a crucial pact with the Kuki National Assembly (KNA).

One of the main clauses of the memorandum of understanding signed between the ASDC and the KNA on December 4, 2000 promises a hill council for the indigenous Kukis residing in Singhasan Hills in Karbi Anglong. The ASDC is spearheading a campaign for an autonomous Karbi state in the district.

Making the announcement about the abrogation of ?all the...

Guwahati, Jan. 23: A day after the bickering factions of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) called a poll-necessitated truce, former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta formally put his hand up for the party top job to set at rest speculation about whether he had shelved his comeback plans.

The AGP?s in-house election will be conducted at the three-day triennial Tezpur conference of the party, beginning January 28.

Mahanta?s announcement, made during a news conference at his official residence here this morning, virtually ruled out a rapprochement between the warring AGP groups, one led by him and...

Guwahati, Jan. 22: The bickering factions of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today resolved to bury their differences to maximise the party?s chances of regaining lost ground in the Lok Sabha poll.

The consensus was reached after a debate spread over two days. By the end of the party?s central executive committee meeting tonight, the Brindaban Goswami and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta camps were speaking in one voice about the need to be a ?united house? before the elections.

Taking the first step in this direction, the Mahanta-led faction, which had initially demanded that the AGP?s annual conclave...

Guwahati, Jan. 19: Cut off from the nerve centre of the very party he founded 19 years ago, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is certain to stake claim to the position of pre-eminence that was once his during the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)?s annual conclave later this month.

An aide of the former chief minister said he would announce his candidature for the AGP president?s post, now held by Brindaban Goswami, ?within the next few days?.

He said Mahanta, who led the AGP unchallenged for 16 years till 2001, would use all his ?resources and political acumen? to wrest the reins of the party from Goswami.

The...

Guwahati, Jan. 19: A city court today extended the judicial remand of three top Ulfa leaders, including founder member Bhimkanta Buragohain, till January 30 and asked the jail authorities to take ?proper care? of the banned outfit?s publicity chief Mithinga Daimary after he complained of chest pain.

Kamrup chief judicial magistrate Rumi Kumari Phukan, however, ended the hearing without taking up the bail applications filed by the families of the three militant leaders. The reason was an unscheduled holiday on account of a lawyer?s death.

Apart from Buragohain and Daimary, Ulfa cultural...

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 ? Reacting to outlawed ULFA?s clarion call for help, China has turned it down cautioning that it has alerted its Frontier Forces to check intrusion by the militants into the country. A spokesman of the Chinese embassy in its first-ever reaction to the ULFA?s appeal said that the peoples republic has taken note of the reports and it would closely monitor the situation. ?We are confident that Chinese frontier forces are capable of safeguarding the security and stability of our border areas,? the spokesman said. China has always followed the principle of non-interference in...

GUWAHATI, Dec 31 ? Though the process of handing over of the militants arrested by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) to India is still on, security agencies are of the view that several senior militants are still in the captivity of the RBA. Highly placed security sources said that the RBA has informed the Government of India about the arrest of several other top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) but they are yet to be handed over to India. According to information available with the security agencies, top leaders of the ULFA and...