"By killing the poor they want to send a message to the Centre," Prasad said in Dibrigarh on Monday after meeting the victims of ULFA violence in the upper Assam districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.

Addressing a huge slogan-shouting crowd of Hindi-speaking people gathered at the Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh, where the injured were admitted, he said, "This violence is to break up the nation."

"I repeat the Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal's statement that the Centre holds the power to deal with those separatist elements with a strong hand," Prasad said.

Prasad assured the people that he would urge the central authorities to send more military force.

"These people had come for the development of Assam and contributed towards its economy by doing small jobs," he asserted.

On the demand for imposition of President's rule removing the Tarun Gogoi government, he said, he would talk to the authorities and submit a report.

Immediately upon his arrival at the airport, Lalu drove straight to the Assam Medical College Hospital where he met the injured victims admitted there.