GUWAHATI, March 8: Employees working in different departments under Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) have not received their salary for at least four months as the Council is in financial straitjacket which has already exhausted the Budget provision for the current financial. However, even as the employees are left to reel under hardship, bills of contractors are being paid without delay. This has raised many a eyebrows for the simple reason that any administration authority dogged by fund crisis would have opted to pay its employees first before settling bills of contractors who could...

IMPHAL, March 8: Chief minister Radhabinod Koijam today said all the constituent partners of the People's Front Government would be treated equally and the Government will consult all the partners in any policies to be taken up by the Government. He, however, warned that any move to destabilize the Government from within will only boomerang on the party concerned. Speaking at a reception function organised by the Samata Party for the ministers and Councilors at GM Hall today, the Chief Minister said there may be elements who are keen to destabilize and topple the Samata party led coalition...

GUWAHATI, March 8: Assam Chief Minister and president of the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has been authorised by the party to take the final decision regarding forging an alliance with the BJP for the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state. Mahanta was delegated this authority at a high-level party meeting at his official residence yesterday, party sources said. After a threadbare discussion on the prospects of an alliance between the AGP and the BJP, a majority of the AGP office bearers expressed the view that the party should explore the possibility of such a tie...

SHILLONG, March 8: Chief minister E.K. Mawlong completed one year in office and celebrated this by releasing a list of his "achievements" at a press conference here today. Topping the list of achievements was the "improvement in peace in public life." This claim has been hard to swallow for many, including Mawlong's own coalition partner, the BJP, which had earlier demanded a white paper on the law and order situation. In response to queries from the Press, the Chief Minister admitted that the government was preparing a status paper on the law and order situation. The BJP had raised doubts...

AGARTALA, March 8: The Sanathan Dharma Parishad, an affiliate of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, will form Dharma Suraksha Samiti units in Tripura to protect tribal and non-tribal Hindus from persecution by the National Liberation Front of Twipra. Stating this at a news conference here today, VHP international president Ashok Singhal said the units would comprise about 15 "unarmed volunteers" each. They would be engaged in the task of protecting Hindus in a peaceful and non-violent way, he said. Replying to a question, he said the VHP would launch its reconversion drive in the Northeast also as in...