Assam government on Thursday asked the Centre to appoint an interlocutor for peace talks with the anti-talk faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland led by its jailed chairman Ranjan Daimary.
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.
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.
The highest percentage was reported from constituencies in Karimganj, Jorhat and Haflong districts ranging from between 35 to 40 per cent.
As political parties and the All Assam Students Union protest against the India-Bangladesh land pact signed on September 6 in Dhaka, the governor of Assam has called for a special one-day session of the Assam assembly on October 17 to discus the issue, as demanded by the opposition parties.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was greeted with black flags by the students of Gauhati university while he was travelling through the varsity campus from the airport to his official residence after his arrival in the state.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said the prime accused in the molestation case of a girl in Guwahati is in Bhubaneswar but has not been arrested so far.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said the role of a local journalist, who has been accused by RTI activist Akhil Gogoi of instigating the assault on a girl outside a city pub, was "unethical".
Warming up for his visit to Bangladesh in the company of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on September 6 and 7, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday showered praise on Bangladesh Prime Minister Seikh Hasina and her government for being very helpful in evicting militants leaders of the northeast, including those from the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, which has been instrumental in containing insurgency in the state of late
The United Liberation Front of Assam (anti-talks has registered its strong opposition to the proposed exchange of adversely possessed land between India and Bangladesh during the visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Dhaka on September 6-7, and warned Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi against taking a 'soft stand' on the issue.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday called upon Paresh Barua, the fugitive commander-in-chief of the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom, to join the ongoing peace process with his colleagues in the militant outfit, led by 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa. Addressing the people of Assam on Independence Day in Guwahati, Gogoi said his government was sympathetic towards the misguided youth of the state in the ranks of various insurgent groups.
Top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders on Friday met Home Minister P Chidambaram and presented the outfit's 'charter of demands', setting the ball rolling for peace talks with the government to bring about a lasting solution to Assam's three-decade old insurgency problem.
The flood situation in Assam has turned for better since Thursday with the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries showing a receding trend. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that administration in flood-hit districts had been kept on alert, though flood waters were already receding in most parts of the state.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday renewed appeal to anti-talk ULFA leader Paresh Barua and others to abjure violence and sit across the table to solve their problems through democratic means.
The government is determined to start negotiation with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom sans the participation of its fugitive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said that dialogue with ULFA will start as soon as the outfit will take a formal decision in its general council meeting.
Hours after the release of United Liberation Front of Asom Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa from Guwhati's Central Jail, the Assam government clarified that the ban the outfit will stay despite the outfit's leadership talking truce.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday expressed apprehension about Maoists' design behind the agitation launched by the landless or illegal settlers on government land under the banner of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity, whose leader Akhil Gogoi has already been arrested and in judicial custody now.
The government of India has signed a peace agreement with a tribal insurgent group from Assam, United People's Democratic Solidarity.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that like all other insurgent groups in truce with the government, the banned United Liberation Front of Assam too would have to enter into a formal agreement for suspension of operation and surrender weapons before starting dialogue with the government of India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday arrived in Guwahati for a day-long visit amid tight security arrangement.
The Congress stormed back to power in Assam for the third consecutive time on Friday, securing an absolute majority, bagging 69 seats in the 126-member assembly.
Credited with bringing insurgent group United Liberation Front of Asom to the negotiating table and hauling Assam back from the brink of bankruptcy, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has combined administrative and political acumen with his simple demeanour to help Congress retain power for a record consecutive third term.
Set to retain power for the third consecutive term, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said bringing all insurgents groups, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, to the negotiating table would be his main priority to ensure lasting peace in the state
After offering prayers at the Kamakhya temple, Gogoi was slated to visit other religious places in Guwahati including churches and masjids to seek divine blessings. If his party wins these elections, it will be three in a row for them. Gogoi claimed before the media that the Congress was sure to win for the third time in a row and will form the next government in the state
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday held parleys with the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana amidst the possibility of a change of guard in some of the states where it is in power as the party prepares for a massive rejig in the wake of its unprecedented debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
Though the United Liberation Front of Asom has lost almost all its key shelters in Bangladesh with the incumbent Bangladesh regime extending overwhelming cooperation to the Indian government, the outfit's base in Myanmar has remained a cause for concern and major hurdle in facilitating an all encompassing peace talks with the group.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai, Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukon and a host of Cabinet ministers and Congress veterans are among the total 485 candidates whose fate will be decided on Monday in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Assam to be held in 62 Local Authorities Constituencies spread over 13 districts.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday announced a Rs 100 crore grant for development of the flood-ravaged Dhemaji district in the state.
The anti-incumbency factor is virtually a non-issue in the forthcoming assembly elections in Assam.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on the New Year's Day vowed to wipe out insurgency from the state for the sake of accelerating the development process.
Ten companies of additional central forces arrived in Assam to contain violence along the inter-state boundary, Gogoi informed, adding that so far 110 miscreants involved in the strife had been arrested by Assam Police.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday informed the state assembly that the arrested chairman of United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa and foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury had been in Bangladesh since 1990, while finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah shifted to Bangladesh on a later date.
Even as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is at loggerhead with yoga guru Baba Ramdev over the latter's tirade against corruption and black money in foreign banks, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has remembered that he had once ordered allotment of a plot of land to the yoga guru for his institution in Guwahati.
Experience and performance in the previous government were on the mind of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi when he picked his 18-member council of ministers. They were administered oath of office and secrecy in Guwahati on Friday afternoon by Governor J B Patnaik.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday stated that the government was not prepared to wait inordinately for the leadership of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to come forward for holding negotiations within the framework of the Indian Constitution.
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.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai figure in the Congress's list of 118 candidates for the Assam assembly elections. The Congress finalised the names of all 118 candidates of the 126-member state assembly at a meeting of the party's election committee chaired by Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. The party is seeking a third consecutive term in power in Assam. The state will witness polling in two phases with the first phase covering 62 assembly seats on April 4.
In a major boost to the morale of security forces engaged sustained counter-insurgency operation Assam, 412 militants including 22 women of the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) laid down arms before Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi in presence of senior police and Army officials at Diphu in Karbi Anglong hill district of Assam.
Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added to the mystery by declaring only that the next CM would be from the BJP, without naming Sarbananda Sonowal, the CM of the outgoing government.
At least 2 persons were killed and over 15 injured including several policemen when police opened fire on a mob of protestors on Wednesday afternoon.