Politics / Assam

GUWAHATI, March 8: With less than a couple of months to go for the Assam Assembly elections, the ruling four-party alliance partners are still not sure whether to stick with the alliance. In the neighbouring State West Bengal, which will also go to polls along with Assam, the major political parties have already started the process of announcing the names of their candidates, but in Assam the ruling alliance partners are yet to start the discussions for seat sharing. The State Committee secretary of the CPM, Hemen Das today said that the alliance partners are yet to meet to formulate their...

NEW DELHI, March 8: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to take the final decision on the issue of forging an alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and now it is left to the Central leadership of the BJP to take the final decision in this regard. The State unit leaders of the BJP today held a day-long meeting to discuss the issue after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday directed them to revaluate their stand on an alliance with the AGP. The State unit of the BJP decided to stick to their stand to opposing an alliance with the AGP and briefed the party president Bangaru...

NEW DELHI, March 7: Decision on forming alliance with the AGP still eluded the BJP, with its much-talked about strategy meeting remaining inconclusive. A final decision is now likely to be taken by the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in consultation with the senior leaders, party sources said. A marathon meeting between the Central and State leadership of the party that lasted for several hours today failed to take a final decision on the issue of alliance in Assam. A high-level delegation comprising the State and Central leadership including the BJP's national president, Bangaru Laxman...

TEZPUR, March 7: The Adivasi people living in Assam prior to independence will be accorded with the status of Scheduled Castes (SC) with a view to extend the facilities and benefits enjoyed by the other similarly placed communities belong to SC, said Bijoya Chakraborty, Union Minister of State for Water Resources. Addressing a mammoth gathering of the 19th State-level general confewrence of Adivasi Council at Rangapara in Sonitpur district, Chakraborty said the constitutional provision shall be made at an early date to include the Adivasis and added that the proposal to include the Adivasis as...

GUWAHATI, March 6: Less than 15 per cent of the persons declared as foreigners by the tribunals under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) [IMDT] Act can be deported from Assam as the provisions of the Act are loaded heavily against the police personnel engaged in the job of detecting and deporting foreigners. According to records available, during the period from 1985 to November last year, the Border police wing of the Assam Police initiated 319109 inquiries under the IMDT Act and 314519 of the inquiries were completed. The police referred 307407 inquiries to the screening...

NEW DELHI, March 6: The possibility of a BJP-AGP pre-poll tie-up in Assam appears bleak, with the central leadership of the national party likely to give in to the demand of its State unit and may instead go for alliance with area-specific smaller regional parties. The party's central leadership today began the crucial exercise of finalising its poll strategy and seat-sharing arrangements in the four States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Assam, besides the Union Territory of Pondicherry by holding detailed deliberations with the State unit leadership of the concerned States. The poll...

GUWAHATI, March 6: The Gauhati High Court on February 28, directed the State's Inspector General of Prisons (IGP) not to allow any construction work on jail land of various jails of the State by any 'outside agency', besides asking the IGP and other authorities not to make any further allotment of land to any person out of the land belonging to the jails of the State. The Court directives, issued by the division bench of Justice AK Patnaik and Justice AH Saikia, came in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition moved by a city-based businessman Bijoyananda Choudhury. Choudhury...

Kolkata, March 6: United Liberation Front of Asom commander-in-chief Paresh Barua escaped yet another bid on his life on Thursday evening when a group of six assailants attacked his vehicle in Dhaka. Barua lost his right-hand man in Bangladesh, Hossain Rumy, in the attack. Rumy was the ULFA frontman in Bangladesh, into whose bank account all ULFA funds have been deposited so far. A top Intelligence Bureau official told TheNewspaperToday that the attack was carried out mainly by surrendered ULFA cadres and some hired assailants from Bangladesh, guided by Indian security personnel. According to...

GUWAHATI, March 6: The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Tuesday denied that its chief Paresh Baruah was attacked by gunmen in Dhaka on Thursday. Reports to that effect were the 'Indian government's propaganda', it said. In a statement, exclusively e-mailed to TheNewspaperToday, ULFA foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury, said: "These reports are all rubbish. He (Paresh Baruah) is fine with his comrades-in-arms at the general headquarters." Choudhury added: "India is only trying to locate him with these very propaganda traps. They want his voice over telephone to pin point his...

DIPHU, March 5: Fifteen members of the 29-member Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) today did not participate in the voting conducted through secret ballots on the motion of confidence moved by the chief executive member, Mojari Hanse while 13 other members were declared to have casted their votes for the motion. The chairman of the council, Daniel Teron later adjourned the House amid din after announcing that the CEM Mojari Hanse had won the motion of confidence by a margin of 13-0 much to the chargin of the 15 protesting members led by the former CEM, Jotson Bey. The group of 15...