Fast running out of patience, dissident Congress legislators in Assam have set Sunday as the deadline for the party high command to take a decision regarding their demand to replace Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
The death toll due to the devastating floods in Assam has risen to 23. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday announced Rs one lakh compensation for the flood-affected victims. He claimed that the overall flood situation had improved due to a brief lull in the rains. River islands Majuli, Lakhimpur and Dhakuakhana and Rangiya subdivisions in the state were worst hit by the current wave of floods.The floods have affected as many as 20.68 lakh people from 13 districts.
The flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim as the death toll has risen to 77. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi are scheduled to visit the state to assess the situation. Nearly 20 lakh have been displaced in the flood, the worst in the state in more than a decade.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday claimed that over 300-odd cadres, belonging to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom and the anti-peace talks faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland, were hiding in Bangladesh. He claimed that at least ten top ranking leaders of the ULFA had taken refuge in the neighbouring country and were operating from there.'ULFA chief Paresh Barua and NDFB chief Ranjan Daimary keep shifting their locations,'Gogoi said
Worsening the crisis in Assam, State Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma quit on Monday demanding the immediate ouster of Tarun Gogoi as chief minister.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday said Army will be used in the state only for specific operations to seize illegal arms and restore peace.
Assam government has given a firm assurance to the Olympic Association of India to hold the forthcoming 33rd National Games under tight security to keep the banned United Liberation Front of Asom militants at bay.
"My US trip has been criticised by some people. But they should understand that such visits are not pleasure trips. Until and unless we visit other countries and learn about the latest advancements, how can we introduce such things in our own country," he told media persons in Guwahati.
The government in Assam is mulling to issue identity cards to Indian daily wage labourers on demand to safeguard them against harassment in the name of detection of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the state.
Internet services across Assam will remain suspended till December 16 to prevent alleged misuse of social media in disturbing peace and to maintain law and order in the state, officials said on Saturday.
A day after the arrest of party Member of Legislative Assembly Pradeep Brahma by Assam police on charges of inciting mob violence in Kokrajhar district in the recent riot, the Bodoland People's Front on Friday clarified that it would continue with its alliance with the ruling Congress notwithstanding the arrest of the party MLA.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday called upon the Central government to involve ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia in the on-going peace talks.
Thirty-five per cent of the 64,41,634 voters exercised their franchise till noon on Monday in five Lok Sabha constituencies of Assam where four persons clashed with CRPF personnel demanding that they be allowed to cast their vote first in Kaliabor constituency.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday made light of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's hat-trick in the assembly polls, saying that leaders like Sheila Dikshit and Tarun Gogoi from his party too have won elections three times in a row.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati that his government will cease all its operations against ULFA if the group stopped its subversive activities and responded to the government's offer for talks.
A state-of-the-art memorial ground will also be constructed in his honour.
He denied that his state government was showing softness towards the ULFA and was giving them a chance to regroup by agreeing to ceasefire.
Concerned over unabated violence along Assam-Nagaland border, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday telephoned chief ministers of Assam and Nagaland and asked them to defuse tension along the borders of the two states.
Indicating his decision to step down from leadership position, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said next year's Lok Sabha election will be the last in the state under his charge of Congress.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday took on Narendra Modi today saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate was 'irresponsible' and had made 'wrong statements' at his rally two days ago.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh will have to treat these militias for what they are: Criminals armed with deadly weapons. Otherwise, nothing will distinguish the National Democratic Alliance government from the ten-year long perfidy of the UPA in Assam.'
Assam government has decided to create the Special Branch of police department as a separate autonomous body and form a Research and Analysis Centre for socio-economic and cultural developments in the state.
Mudslinging and verbal attacks will definitely surge once the poll dates are announced, but as with any state, there are some crucial issues which will play a significant role in influencing voters in Assam too, says Devanik Saha.
As violence continued to rock parts of Assam in support of various demands for separate states, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday ruled out further division of his state, saying people there want to live like a joint family.
Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said people of the state have voted for development and protection of their identity.
Rahul claimed that the Assam CM has taken land in Kaziranga National Park.
81 per cent voter turnout recorded in West Bengal, 80 per cent in Assam.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has asked Congress MLAs to submit detailed reports on development activities being undertaken in their respective constituencies.
The Congress on Tuesday announced its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath once again from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot from Rajasthan's Jalore.
The Assam State Women's Commission, in its complaint, said that the former MP, who is known to have sided with a group of dissident Congress legislators, commented that Jorhat Superintendent of Police Sanjukta Parashar's 'unusual proximity' with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was a cause for concern.
Sources reveal that the Assam chief minister may be on his way out even as it seems that his Haryana and Maharashtra counterparts will survive the crisis. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports.
Assam Health and Education Minister Dr Himanta Sarma on Sunday met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and offered to resign from the Cabinet even as he said that the dissidence in the Congress Legislature Party had come to an end.
With rhino poachers creating havoc in the Kaziranga National Park, the Assam government has sent a proposal to the Union government for raising a Rhino Protection Force with more than 1,200 personnel while National Investigative Agency's help would be sought to bust the international rhino-poaching racket.
Maybe one of the reasons for the party to prefer Gogoi is that he combines administrative and financial acumen that is rare.
Opposing the Central government's proposal of allowing Bangladeshis visa-free entry into Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said he couldn't allow it, as the state was already facing a problem of illegal migration.
The death toll in Assam in the current flood rose to 30 on Wednesday with 14 bodies recovered from worst-affected Goalpara and Kamrup (rural) districts even as relief and rescue work continued round-the-clock.
A website article on an alleged 'Assam Rape Festival' has sparked widespread protests for denigrating the image of the state.
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Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday accused Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh of failing to provide security along the state's border with Nagaland and accused the Centre of not taking the recent violence there seriously.
A Total 64,41,635 voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the first phase of polling to be held in five parliamentary constituencies Assam namely, Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur on April 7. The electorate comprise of 33, 21,567 male voters and 31, 20,067 female voters. Campaigning for the first phase has come to an end in the state on Saturday afternoon.
'The win in Assam is likely to have a ripple effect in other north-eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland which have been reluctant to embrace the BJP in the past,' says Nitin A Gokhale, the distinguished commentator on strategic affairs, who lived and reported from Assam between 1983 and 2006.
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