Politics / Assam

GUWAHATI, April 10: The All Assam Minorities Students' Union (AAMSU) has decided to jump into the electoral fray in the Assembly polls next month alleging that no other political party has been able to secure the interests of the minority people till date. AAMSU president Shamsul Haque announced here this morning that the union would be putting up candidates in as many as 28 constituencies all over State during the elections. It was time the minorities took hold of the situation rather than waiting for others to do the job, he said while addressing a news conference. Claiming that all parties...

NEW DELHI, April 9: The ruling AGP is likely to get a berth at the NDA Council of Ministers in the wake of the regional party formally joining the NDA fold. A hint to this affect was given by the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani. The BJP State unit may not be too happy about the alliance but the Union Home Minister today appeared very pleased with the development saying that though the AGP has joined the NDA alliance only today, it has been cooperating with the Centre for last three years. Earlier, welcoming the AGP into the NDA fold, the Union Home Minister today left no one in doubt that the...

GUWAHATI, April 9: Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) struck a deal today to contest the ensuing Assembly polls in the State together, the grassroots level BJP workers here continued to oppose the alliance. For the third day since Saturday, BJP workers held demonstrations inside the premises of the party's state headquarters here. Unlike the previous two days, however, the protest today was peaceful. With almost all the senior leaders away in New Delhi, the middle rung party leaders were hard-pressed in explaining why the party had to tie-up with...

NEW DELHI, April 9: The ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today sealed the electoral pact to fight the forthcoming Assembly polls. Under the agreement the AGP and its allies would field candidates in 92 seats, and the BJP in 44 constituencies. The significant aspect of the deal is that both the parties would have friendly contests in 10 LACs, where they reserved the right to field their own candidates. The constituencies predictably are those contentious ones on which the two parties failed to come to an agreement. The seat sharing arrangement in effect means...

SIVASAGAR, April 9: CPI, which recently snapped ties with the AGP for its proposed alliance with the BJP, will contest 17 of the 126 Assembly constituencies in the May 10 election in the State. CPI Rajya Sabha MP Drupad Borgohain said 17 candidates had been selected. In Sivasagar district, the party would put up candidates in all the six seats, he said. He also said that sitting MLA and former Flood Control Minister Promode Gogoi would contest from Sivasagar constituency. Borgohain, however, denied that there was any alliance forged with the Congress as reported in the media.

GUWAHATI, April 9: Militant outfit Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) has assured that Constitutional safeguard would be given to all Indian citizens living in the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council areas and that there is no reason for the non-Bodos to feel apprehensive about the proposed Bodo accord. Talking to The Assam Tribune, the BLT publicity secretary Mainao Daimary said that the BLT, as a goodwill gesture to the non-Bodos, even proposed that 50 per cent of the seats of the proposed Council should be open for general people to give all sections of people presentation in the Council. "This...

GUWAHATI, April 8: Meaningful autonomy with constitutional safeguards to the ethnic groups of Assam will be the main poll plank of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and its associate organisations in the ensuing Assembly elections in the State, said the ABSU advisor, Urkhau Gwra Brahma. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Brahma said that the indigenous people of Assam must fight together for their survival as the their identity was under threat due to wrong policies of the successive governments and unabated influx of foreigners, which changed the population pattern of the State. He...

GUWAHATI, April 8: Broken chairs, smashed photoframes, a twisted signboard, torn flags and festoons, shards of glass - they all lay scattered at the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Rajgarh Road here this afternoon. No, it was not a typhoon that has visited here, but a depressing reminder of a sudden 'visit' by party workers, apparently unhappy with the party leadership's decision to seek an electoral understanding with the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which, till the other day, was the party's main foe along with the Congress. The workers, numbering about 150 and...

NEW DELHI, April 8: In a new twist to the ongoing political stalemate, the BJP State unit today served an ultimatum on the AGP to concede to their demand for 50 seats. The BJP has asked the regional party to respond by Monday, a senior leader of the party told The Assam Tribune. The decision to serve an ultimatum on the AGP was taken at a meeting held at Union Minister of State for Water Resources Bijoya Chakraborty's house last evening. The BJP's State executive members including the State president, Rajen Gohain, member of the national executive, Kabindra Purkayastha besides the general...

GUWAHATI, April 8: The State Veterinary Department allegedly procured a dozen of immature jersey bulls from Australia of which 50 per cent are of genetically sub-standard quality, said knowledgeable circles here. However, the 58 heifers procured under the same project from the same country are comparatively better, though one of the heifers died at Chennai, the sources said. The cattle were imported from Australia under the ongoing Livestock Development Component (LDC) project sponsored by the World Bank. The cattle have been procured to set up one bull mother farm and two semen production...