Stung by the public of dissent against his leadership shown by about 20-odd comparatively young members of Legislative Assembly, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has resorted to consultation with veterans within the party to nip it in the bud.
Encouraged by the decision of the All India Congress Committee to appoint two of his trusted lieutenants as secretaries, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will now get tough on dissident Congress MLAs in the state.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is not a threat to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance but a threat to the Bharatiya Janata Party led-National Democratic Alliance itself, as proved by the developments following his elevation as the BJP poll panel chief, his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi said on Saturday. "Modi is not a threat to the UPA. Modi is a threat to NDA itself," he said.
The 12-hour Assam bandh called by the All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) on Tuesday turned violent with government officials and mediapersons attacked leading to imposition of indefinite curfew in some areas.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will travel to Guwahati to file his nomination papers for his fifth term in the Rajya Sabha on May 15. The election has been scheduled for May 30.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday hinted at the involvement of a third force behind the raging ethnic violence in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council (BTC) areas of Kokrajhar and Chirang.
The chairperson of the National Commission for Women Mamata Sharma on Wednesday recommended Assam government to provide government job for the victim of July 9 Guwahati molestation episode besides proper counseling and rehabilitation.
The editor-in-chief of the local television news channel, which had videographed the molestation of a girl outside a pub in Guwahati, on Tuesday resigned after expressing doubts over impartial enquiry into the allegations that a journalist had instigated the incident.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday announced an ad-hoc financial assistance of Rs 500 crore to flood-ravaged Assam, where floods and landslides have claimed 81 lives so far.
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.
In the wake of fresh violence in Kokrajhar, the Centre has asked the Assam government to be on high alert, deploy Army and seize illegal arms to put and end to the clashes between Bodos and immigrant Muslims.
Eve-teasers better watch out in bustling Guwahati as a special women force of Assam Police called 'Virangana' (brave woman) has been deployed on the city streets to curb the growing trend of eve-teasing.
An eight-member Assam-Nagaland Goodwill Team on Friday called on Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and conveyed that people of Nagaland wanted an amicable and peaceful solution to the vexed Assam-Nagaland boundary row outside the jurisdiction of the apex court.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday sounded happy over the way the dialogue between the Government of India and United Liberation Front of Assam has progressed.
In a sharp defiance of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Congress MPs and legislators from the two hill districts of Assam -- Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao -- have taken an initiative to launch a forum to demand a separate state comprising two hill districts.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday took strong exception to a comment made by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's on Prime Minster Dr Manmohan Singh.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday dismissed the suggestion that illegal migration from Bangladesh has led to high growth of Muslim population in the state but blamed illiteracy for the high birth rate among the community.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday promised to publish a white paper by the first week of October giving details about the steps taken by the government to check the illegal migration from Bangladesh even as a fresh wave of people's agitation against the problem of illegal migrants threatening to gather momentum in the state.
The Bodoland People's Front (BPF) on Thursday said that its legislator, Pradeep Brahma, had been arrested on baseless charges by the police and reiterated that he must be released immediately without any condition.
Even as public protests are rife against outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom in eastern Assam district of Tinsukia over deaths of three innocent children in a freak grenade explosion on the afternoon of January 9, in a village near the oil refinery town of Digboi, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday directed the state police chief to gear up vigil and beef security measures.
Death of four persons in an Assam-bound special train coming from Bangalore in Jalpaiguri area of North Bengal in West Bengal has raised the alarm and Assam government has sounded the alert apprehending fresh violence once the Eid celebration is over in the state.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said that a probe will be instituted to find out facts regarding alleged involvement of foreign hands in the recent Assam violence.
The anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Friday blamed "infighting" within the ruling Congress party in Assam for the violence between Bodos and minorities. The outfit claimed that people in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts are being made "political scapegoat" for the sake of individual ambitions of leaders.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday appealed to students and people from Assam and other parts of the north-east to refrain from rushing back to their home states in panic. The chief minister made the comment in the wake of reports of mass exodus of people, particularly students, who are afraid of a backlash following the widespread violence in lower Assam.
Rediff.com takes a look at life inside a relief camp in Kokrajhar, which was the epicenter of the recent ethnic violence, which claimed 77 lives.
A team of Central Bureau of Investigation officials will visit violence-hit areas of Assam on Thursday after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi decided to recommend a probe by the Central agency into the clashes.
The Assam government has decided to hand over all cases related to the ethnic violence -- that recently rocked Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts of Assam -- to the Central Bureau of Investigation to nab the culprits who masterminded the violence.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has constituted a Group of Ministers to monitor the operations to provide relief and rehabilitate the violence-displaced persons in Assam in the wake of the government asking the violence-hit to return to their villages from relief camps by August 15 in view of 'improvement in security scenario'.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has directed the deputy commissioner of Baksa district to institute a magisterial inquiry into the kidnapping and death of a youth in the wake of allegations from various quarters that he had been killed by army personnel. The army has denied any involvement in the incident.
With the situation improving in violence-hit districts of Assam, refugees have started returning home with the state government setting an August 15 deadline for all displaced persons to return.
"The violence in Assam is not a communal clash as alleged by the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is a clash between Bodos and religious minority community triggered by some elements with vested interests. Both communities have been affected by the clashes," Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said vehemently refuting BJP's allegation that it was a communal clash sparked by illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Strongly backing Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi over his handling of ethnic violence in the state, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party accusing it of 'adding fuel to the fire'.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has in fact gone to the extent of claiming that Pakistan's external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, was helping Maoists in the state. "The Maoists are spreading in Assam. The ISI has also joined hands with them," Gogoi told journalists after a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram earlier this week.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government of not taking timely steps to contain the conflict in violence-hit districts of lower Assam.
At least 26 trains were cancelled and 31 stopped at different stations due to violence in Assam, prompting Railway Minister Mukul Roy to seek enhanced security from Home Minister P Chidambaram for safety of over 30,000 passengers stranded midway.
Hours after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi claimed that the key accused in the Guwahati molestation case was in Bhubaneswar, the Odisha police on Monday said its Assam counterpart is yet to contact it on the matter.
Assam Chief Minister and Congress veteran Tarun Gogoi on Monday sought to downplay the much hyped 'Modi magic' of the Bharatiya Janata Party it saying "Modi magic won't work here in Assam which has its own mystical magic hub Mayong".
Congratulating Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for the massive surrender, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram assured those who surrendered that they would be treated with honour and dignity. K Anurag reports.
After several days of intensive statehood agitation by various ethnic communities, the situation in Assam limped back to normalcy on Wednesday. Trains services were restored while movement of vehicles including trucks carrying essential commodities resumed on the highways connecting the Assam and the Northeast to the rest of the country.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has sent a strong word of precaution to the group of dissidence within the Congress Legislature Party by reminding them that he has been the chief minister of the State since 2001 only because of the confidence imposed on his by the people of Assam and will remain in the chair as long as the people desire so.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances