The opposition Asom Gana Parishad on Friday organised a massive rally of its supporters and people in Guwahati to register its protest against the 'failure' of the Assam government to stop occurrence of violence in Bodoland Territorial Council and adjoining areas as well as demanding deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the state.
The formal induction of Asom Gana Parishad into the National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday failed to take off with the former raising some "last minute" queries on the alliance forcing the Bharatiya Janata Party to postpone a joint press conference by their top leadership.
The two parties will not campaign jointly and they have not forged a formal alliance.
Sonowal's name as the party's face came as no surprise as he came with a clean image and no baggage and enjoyed the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party, two senior leaders of the Asom Gana Parishad on Monday joined the party and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha pledged support to BJP candidates in West Bengal, including the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.
The modalities for seat-sharing would be worked out later after AGP had talks on a similar arrangement with other opposition parties, he said. Stating that various problems of the state were discussed at the meeting, Patowary said, opposition leader Advani was urged to raise in Parliament the issues concerning the people here to pressurise the centre for solving them.
The term 'love jihad' is used by right-wing groups to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Both the Congress and AAP are part of the 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam, formed to contest the general elections together, but a rift had emerged with members of the forum announcing candidates against each other in various constituencies of the state.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
Gohain claimed that his discussions with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding the delimitation "did not bring any positive outcome".
A party leader asserted that the AGP respected the sentiments of common people, who were wary that the law might threaten their identity and existence.
The AGP had in January withdrew its support to the BJP government in Assam in protest against the Centre's decision to go ahead with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its two Assam allies -- the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People's Party Liberal -- on Wednesday 'almost finalised' their seat-sharing pact for the Assam assembly polls and a formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources said.
The saffron party won 60 of the 126 seats, its allies Asom Gana Parishad nine and United Peoples Party (Liberal) six. Congress bagged 29 seats, its partner All India United Democratic Front 16 and Bodo Democratic Front four.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Asom Gana Parishad alliance swept the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) polls on Sunday, bagging 58 out of the total 60 wards, while the main opposition party Congress drew a blank.
The bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is surging ahead of the Grand Alliance spearheaded by the Congress in Assam.
A direct contest between nominees of the BJP-led NDA and Congress-headed Grand Alliance is on the cards in 20 constituencies
Sarma's name was proposed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and seconded by BJP state party president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and newly elected Haflong MLA Nandita Garlosa.
Himanta Biswa Sarma -- who is also the North East Democratic Alliance convenor -- took the oath of office and secrecy in Assamese.
'The BJP's tie-ups with the Bodoland People's Front and the Asom Gana Parishad have incurred the wrath of local party leaders and workers ahead of next month's assembly elections.'
The BJP on Thursday announced a seat-sharing arrangement with the Asom Gana Parishad, saying that it will contest eight of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam while the regional party will field candidates in rest of the six constituencies.
'If the Amendment Bill 2016 becomes law, the indigenous people of Assam will become a minority and the language, literature and culture of Assam will be lost.'
Muslims across the country have joined the agitation, apprehending that the move could be a precursor to a country-wide NRC.
Almost a week after winning the Assam Assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to decide on the name of its Chief Ministerial nominee on Saturday in a crucial meeting called by the central leadership of the party.
The BJP-led alliance in Assam is all set to form the government for the second successive term winning 72 of the 102 seats declared so far and is leading in three others.
Legendary athlete P T Usha on Wednesday batted for bringing all competitions under National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and sought more focus on the field of sports medicine and science to help players recover from injuries.
The party has forged ties with Bodo People's Front; continues talks with AGP.
The expansion was the first by Sarma since he assumed chief ministership of the state about 13 months ago.
The party is less forthcoming about who the chief minister will be if it stays in power.
Sonowal, who steered the BJP to victory in the elections, has put the issue of infiltration and attempts to check them as his government's priority.
The constituencies spread across lower and central Assam will have 12,699 polling stations where 1,04,35,271 voters will be able exercise their franchise.
Over 95 lakh voters will decide the fate of 539 candidates, including 43 females, in 65 constituencies spread across the state.
India on Thursday asked Pakistan to address the 'shortcomings' in a bill brought out to facilitate reviewing the case of Indian death row convict Kulbhushan Jadhav, saying the proposed law does not create a mechanism to reconsider it as mandated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The Asom Gana Parishad, the state's main Opposition party, has raised a demand to initiate immediate peace talks with the banned United Liberation Front of Asom. Political observers, however, view the renewed call by the AGP for peace talks as an attempt to placate ULFA before the forthcoming panchayat election in Assam.
Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
With 21 being the minimum required strength required for a single party in the 126-member house, no opposition party has got the number, including the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
Sarma, after being elected unanimously as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance legislature party, said in his address that he was grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, Sonowal and all other party leaders for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of the state, and pledged to carry out his duties with "dedication and honesty".
The apex court within hours took suo motu notice of it and a five-member bench started hearing the case on Monday.
Sonowal, a law graduate, is considered to be a rarity -- an honest politician who also worked to unite different communities with his oft-repeated lines 'Barak-Brahmaputra-plains-hills'.
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