AGARTALA, February 11: Six hostages, including a teenaged girl, were freed from captivity following an encounter between security forces and NLFT insurgents at a jungle in RK Pur police station area of South Tripura district on Sunday, police said. NLFT militants fired at a joint team of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and District Armed Reserve (DAR) from their dideout forcing the security personnel to retaliate, police said. The six were rescued after the militants escaped following the brief gun-battle leaving the hostages behind, police said. There was no report of any casualty on either side...

AGARTALA, February 11: Tripura Upajati Gana Mukti Parisad, the ruling CPI-M's tribal wing, has charged the Trinamul state unit and the Tripura Upajati Juba Samity with forging a "clandestine alliance" with terrorist groups. TUGMP is worried over the manner in which the state's Opposition is maintaining a silence over the killing and attacks by armed insurgent groups. The TUGMP central executive committee, in its two-day meeting concluded here yesterday, approved the decision to launch an organised campaign in Tripura's hill areas to expose the rebels and the role of Opposition parties. The...

GUWAHATI, February 11: The Nipamacha Singh ministry in Manipur was on Sunday reduced to minority following a split in the legislature wing of Manipur State Congress Party, lead partner of the ruling United Legislature Front, setting off hectic parleys in the main Opposition alliance Manipur Democratic Front to form an alternative. Sports minister M. Hemanta Singh and seven other MLAs broke away from the 31-member MSCP legislature party saying they had withdrawn support to the Nipamacha Singh ministry reducing its strength to 27 in the 60-member House with an effective strength of 59. Speaking...

IMPHAL, February 10: The citadel of the dominant partner of ruling United Front coalition government, the Manipur State Congress Party, MSCP, has begun to crumble. After holding out for nearly three months in its stronghold at the Chief Minister, W Nipamacha's official bungalow, and a camp that was rumoured to be in the nature of a concentration camp, the dykes suddenly seem to have given away, and eight of the campers have escaped and walked into the Opposition Manipur Democratic Front, MDF, camp being held at the Speaker, S Dhananjoy's bungalow. The eight; three cabinet ministers, one...

IMPHAL, February 10: The ruling Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) has threatened to withdraw from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. Sources said MSCP's legislature wing decided to pull out of the NDA last night in protest against remarks made by BJP national secretary (in-charge of Manipur) P.B. Acharya and Samata Party national president Jaya Jaitley favouring President's rule in the state. The legislature wing's decision is yet to be referred to the party level. The formal decision of pulling out from the NDA has to be taken by the party. Loyalists of Chief Minister...