NEW DELHI, March 19: An upbeat Assam Congress today dismissed the possibility of consolidation of minority votes in favour of the ruling alliance following indications of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) joining hands. The Assam Congress elated by the AICC political resolutions adopted at the party's just-concluded plenary session at Bangalore, concerning the Northeast, claimed they would make SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav bite the dust in Assam on the issues concerning the minorities. "We will remind the people that the messiah of the minorities was the Defence...

KOHIMA, March 19: The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) on Monday said the suspension of the Special Armed Forces Act by the Centre and the NSCN(IM)'s decision to abstain from 'extortion' will lead to truce in the area, reports UNI. The NBCC, in a release issued by its general secretary Rev Zhau Terhuja, said the people were awaiting an outcome of the ceasefire declaration by the Centre. He lamented that both the security forces and the NSCN(IM) were accusing each other of violation of ground rules. Meanwhile, Nagaland Governor O P Sharma on March 13 said that the people were keen to have...

SHILLONG, March 19: Former Meghalaya Chief Minister BB Lyngdoh has said the present EK Mawlong government should act without fear in tackling insurgency, reports UNI. Terming as a group of thieves the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), Lyngdoh, the Chairman of State Development Reforms Commission, categorically ruled out the idea of having any talk. He reiterated that it should not be the government business to invite a gang of criminals for discussion, who were making money through extortion and killing innocent civilians. Talking to UNI here the veteran leader, who was...

AGARTALA, March 19: Making fresh disclosures about the infighting in the National Liberation Front of Twipra, senior NLFT commander Nayanbasi Jamatya lashed out at the outfit's official faction. Jamatya, who left the outfit's hideout in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh last month, said in a fax message to the local media that the former chief executive member of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) and senior leader of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) Debabrata Koloi met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi with a proposal for peace negotiations. Senior IPFT leader...

IMPHAL, March 18: Manipur Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam today appealed to the insurgents for a political dialogue while expressing hope that they would come up with 'positive response,' during the one-month period of unilateral ceasefire declared by his government on March 1 last, reports PTI. "We all love Manipur and why can not we sit together to bring solution to any problem," Koijam told PTI here. Violence would not solve any problem, he said. The Chief Minister said any issue can be settled through dialogues or negotiation and sought cooperation from various organisations, local club...