Given the depleting mass base of the regional Asom Gana Parishad led by former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, a section of senior leaders of the party are waiting in the wings to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is gaining ground in Assam.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
He told PTI in an interview that parties that are still thinking of 'being the leader' of a possible united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have not understood the gravity of the situation at all.
Attacking the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the country has suffered due to 'backseat driving' and 'remote control' and warned people of Assam against an unstable government in the state.
'As demonetisation showed us, the Shah-Modi duo can take big risks.' 'Risking economic damage for political benefit, however, is one thing, stoking old fires in complicated Assam is another', warns Shekhar Gupta.
Two person were killed and 20 others, including four police men, injured in a bomb blast near a temporary election office of BJP in Assam's Goalpara district.
Tarun Gogoi, who steered the Congress to a spectacular win in Assam, will be sworn-in as chief minister for the third consecutive term on Wednesday, Pradesh Congress Committee sources said on Monday.
The 'Angh' of Oting, Tahwang, is contesting the February 27 assembly polls on a Naga People's Front (NPF) ticket against the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MLA P Paiwang Konyak, who is a cabinet minister in the outgoing government.
There are three things you never do in a small North East state: Undermine local leaders, divide and rule, push homogenisation, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
While main political parties especially Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are engaging in high-voltage campaign in Assam, young voters, especially the first timers, sound at a loss about which party or the candidate to choose, as they are hardly convinced about the poll promises and have not been swayed by histrionics of poll candidates.
Criticising BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for advocating the Gujarat model of development, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi dismissed it, saying the same formula could not be applied to all states in the country.
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
A high-level security review meeting held between senior police official of Assam and Meghalaya in Guwahati on Wednesday decided to launch joint operation against marauding Garo National Liberation Army militants. The ultras have killed 12 people, including five policemen and seven villagers on both sides of the inter-state boundary since Sunday.
BJP is set to win majority of 32 municipality boards and 42 town committees in Assam
Bodo tribals influence as many as 30 seats. No wonder, national parties are keen to forge alliances with Bodo groups.
After the publication of the final list of NRC, those people whose name will figure in it will be given usual Aadhaar number as applicable to legal residents in the country.
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
The ULFA anti-talks faction triggered a blast at Assam Pradesh Congres Committee headquarter on March 14 in which three Congress leaders were injured. But Gogoi on Friday tried to make light of the ULFA threat saying that the threat had been there since a long time.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday appealed to the people of Manipur to maintain peace and promised that justice will be ensured to all sections of the society.
IOA approached the Olympic Council of Asia, seeking an extension of the July 15 deadline for providing details of the country's wrestling squad for the Asian Games.
The government on Saturday imposed a 40 per cent duty on the export of onions to increase domestic availability amid signs of increasing prices. The export duty, which is the first time ever on onion, has been imposed as the retail sale price of the kitchen staple, according to government data, touched Rs 37/kg on Saturday in Delhi. The finance ministry through a Customs notification imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions till December 31, 2023.
'One reason given for the failure of the Congress in Assam was due to the alliance with the AIUDF.'
Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said people of the state have voted for development and protection of their identity.
A colossal musician from this part of the world, late Bhupen Hazarika describing the spring festival (Bohag Bihu) in Assam sang one of its timeless tune -- 'Bohag mathu eti ritu nohoi, nohoi Bohag ethi mah, Asomiya jatir.' Bhupen Hazarika described Bohag, as not only a season or a month but eternal the source of courage, inspiration and lifeline for the Assamese people to win over the darkness of evil.
In the present case, the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir is yet to be constituted after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in 2019.
The highest percentage was reported from constituencies in Karimganj, Jorhat and Haflong districts ranging from between 35 to 40 per cent.
Congress supporters in Assam are upbeat about their party vice president Rahul Gandhi's upcoming road show in the villages along with a massive rally in the state during his visit on February 25 and 26.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for his fifth Rajya Sabha term from Assam.
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.
Over 95 lakh voters will decide the fate of 539 candidates, including 43 females, in 65 constituencies spread across the state.
Ajmal in an interview to a media house on Friday had commented on women and Hindu men as well as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, purportedly as a rejoinder to his remarks on 'love jihad'.
In the first incident of poll-related violence on the eve of tomorrow's second phase of polling in Assam, two persons have been killed in Kokrajhar district.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has stated that backward state of Assam and the Northeast region as a while need more fund from the Centre instead of frequent visits of Union ministers, a new and unprecedented trend since Independence.
The Congress on Monday deferred the election to the post of party president till the COVID-19 situation improves and decided to set up a group to assess losses in the recent assembly polls, with party chief Sonia Gandhi saying it has to put its house in order by facing reality and drawing lessons from the 'serious setbacks'.
Throwing security concerns to wind Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday plunged himself amid the masses in Nagaon district of Assam during a road show after seeking blessings of Goddess Kamakhya at the historic Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati earlier in the day.
Unless the anarchy in Manipur is brought under control quickly, we are sowing the seeds of a flare up in the entire North East and the end of our dream of checking China in South East Asia, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).