AIZAWL, August 18: An electoral alliance between the Congress and the Mizo National Front (Nationalist) is in trouble. Efforts by the Pradesh Congress Committee to forge an alliance with the MNF(N) received a setback on Monday when its nomination committee rejected the MNF president's name as the consensus candidate for the forthcoming elections and decided to field a Congressman for the state's lone Lok Sabha seat. According to senior PCC leader, Sainghaka, the chance of an electoral alliance with the MNF(N) had almost gone with the wind as the MPCC nomination committee felt a Congressman...

GOSSAIGAON, August 18: The Kokrajhar district committee of the Bodoland Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF) has claimed the responsibility of kidnapping of Ranjit Chandra Goswami, divisional forest officer of Kachugaon forest division . In a release, it said the DFO was kidnapped for his involvement in financial irregularities to the tune of crores of rupees, involvement in anti-social and illicit relationship with women and irregularities in attending his office. It stated that the BLTF condemned the inhumane atrocities and harassment meted out to innocent businessmen and public in general in...

GUWAHATI, August 18: The Guwahati city police today busted the external affairs office-cum-international publicity wing of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) at Burnihat following the arrest of the second-in-command of the cultural department of the outfit, Khirode Bora alias Bijoy Phukan. The office also operated as the principal control room of the political wing of the ULFA, police sources said. They said the police nabbed Bijoy Phukan last evening and following his interrogation, the ULFA office was busted in the wee hours today. Phukan, who hails from Karbi Anglong, is a senior...

KOHIMA, August 17: The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) has vowed against signing any interim agreement with the Centre on the Naga issue, but will continue the ongoing peace talks for a final solution, its vice-president Khodao Yanthan has announced. "NSCN has made its stand on any interim agreement clear to the Centre. It will not agree to anything that betrays the aspirations of the Naga people," he told a public meeting at the organisation's headquarters near Dimapur on Saturday. Yanthan appreciated the statesmanship of Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and some of his...

GUWAHATI, August 17: The total cost of the proposed Pagladiya dam project of the Brahmaputra Board has been updated to Rs 522 crore as per the price levels of 1998. The project, which envisages flood moderation and irrigation benefits with incidental power generation was earlier approved from techno-economic angle of the technical advisory committee of the Union ministry of water resources at an estimated cost of Rs 472 crore (1998 price level). The project, involving the construction of an earlier dam of about 26 metre high, had already been cleared from environmental angle by the Union...