The Congress party's traditional bastion among the tea workers in Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Tezpur Lok Sabha constituencies holds the key to the party's fortunes in the first phase polling on April 7 in Assam. The BJP has been trying hard to make inroads here.
'One reason given for the failure of the Congress in Assam was due to the alliance with the AIUDF.'
An indefinite bandh by a militant outfit in the Autonomous District (ST) along with last minute canvassing in two constituencies of Karimganj (SC) and Silchar in the Barak Valley marked the end of a high pitched campaigning on Thursday for 3 constituencies in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in Assam on April 12.
The Congress leader said he had warned the people of Assam before the Assembly elections in 2016 that hard earned peace would be hampered if the BJP came to power.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Three persons were injured in police firing at Donkamokam, in the violence-ravaged Karbi Anglog Hills district on Friday, even as the army staged flag march in the affected district headquarter town of Diphu.
Taking note of large-scale deaths because of the heat wave in various parts of country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked a Group of Ministers to discuss and decide on its inclusion as natural calamity.
Congress party leaders have admitted that the situation in Assam is far more serious in comparison to Maharashtra with the exit of Himanta Biswa Sarma. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports
The death sentence of Nithari serial killings case convict Surender Koli was on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad high court which rapped the Uttar Pradesh government for the "inordinate and unexplained delay" in deciding his mercy petition.
The AGP, which has ruled the state on its own twice, will play the junior partner and contest 24 seats while the rest 126 will be divided among BJP and three smaller outfits, with the saffron party leading the alliance.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim after fresh heavy rainfall in Meghalaya's Garo hills and Goalpara district as the death toll mounted to 40.
Over 95 lakh voters will decide the fate of 539 candidates, including 43 females, in 65 constituencies spread across the state.
The home ministry on Monday ordered a probe into allegation that employees of northeast origin at an Ahmedabad hotel were asked to stay away during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to the city.
At least seven persons killed in flood and landslides triggered by incessant rain in South West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya where about one lakh people from over 200 villages have been rendered homeless so far even as the authorities have been caught off guard in the face of disaster.
The National Security Guards, which protects the most ulnerable' VVIPs of the country, has decided to stop taking any more protectees under its elite 'black cat' commando security cover.
Even as questions continue to be raised within the Congress party over Rahul Gandhi's primary election experiment, the party has managed to avoid a major embarrassment by forcing controversial former MP Jagdish Tytler to withdraw his nomination
'For the Congress, the family is the final court of appeal.' 'If there is no family, all leaders are equal.' 'If all leaders are equal, anyone can lead the Congress.' 'So every time the family has stayed in the background, the Congress has split,' points out Aditi Phadnis.
Uttarakhand minister Amrita Rawat, wife of Satpal Maharaj who recently left Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, was on Monday sacked by Chief Minister Harish Rawat from the state cabinet and an Independent member of Legislative Assembly was sworn in as minister.
The tragedy had struck the tea gardens of the twin districts of Golaghat and Jorhat after a large number of their workers consumed the spurious liquor on Thursday night.
At least 15 people have died in heavy floods and landslides triggered by continuous rain for the last three days in Assam, where airforce helicopters, army, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been pressed into service for rescue work, officials said.
Normal life was paralysed in Assam during a 12-hour-long state-wide bandh led by the Bajrang Dal and supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and several other organisations demanding action against the All India United Democratic Front and its leader Badaruddin Ajmal for alleged links with 'jihadi forces in Bangladesh'.
With the recovery of four more bodies today, the death toll mounted to 36 in Assam floods that affected about 10 lakh people in 13 districts and rendered majority of them homeless.
NSG commandos, who guard some of the most high-risk VVIPs in the country, are set to sharpen their skills in this domain with the elite force asking the Special Protection Group to audit its performance and share expertise in better securing its protectees.
Shatrughan Sinha won't attend, citing 'important personal engagements.' Will L K Advani be present? M I Khan reports on a swearing-in ceremony the likes of which Patna may not have seen before.
Speaking to around 60 journalists in three different sittings, the Congress vice-president, who is known to be media shy when it comes to his personal life, has opened up on a range of topics.
Patel, 71, the quintessential backroom strategist for the Congress, died at a Gurugram hospital in the early hours of Wednesday due to multiple organ failure more than a month after he tested positive for COVID-19.
Party insiders say the high command could consider replacing state chief Manikrao Thakre, reports Sanjay Jog.
She accused the Narendra Modi government of engaging in a "dangerous duplicitous game.
The Lower House, showing rare unanimity, passed the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill to allow the operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement.
The batch of petitioners, while challenging the UPA government's decision to extend reservation to Jats
While Himanta Biswa Sarma scotched rumours that he would be the king this time, political sources in Guwahati maintained that he, and not Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had a bigger say in choosing candidates, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Patel, 71, who was critical for a few days, was admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram on November 15 after he developed complications. His son Faisal said he died at 3.30 am.
The PM also took a swipe at 79-year-old Gogoi who had called the assembly election as a direct fight between him and Modi, saying he can only pay his respects to the elderly leader.
Mounting an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said the Opposition party "talks big" and believes in the "politics of hate."
A defeat in Assam would be bad news for the Congress which is in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.
The BJP, which has two MLAs in the MDA government, backed the Cabinet decision.
The Centre is likely to rush additional paramilitary forces to trouble-torn areas along the Assam-Nagaland border to maintain peace and prevent the clashes between Naga and Karbi tribals from spreading.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the government has taken care of the interests of everyone and 'the interest of India'.
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