Progress, GU top Assam Cong wishlist

Bhubaneswar Kalita

Guwahati, May 31 : The Congress will submit a wishlist to the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government at the Centre that will include a special development package for the backward regions of Assam and upgrade of Gauhati University into a full-fledged central university.

A meeting of the Assam PCC office-bearers has been convened tomorrow morning at Rajiv Bhawan to discuss, debate and finalise the wishlist.

The meeting will try to push certain requests in the first 100-day agenda of the UPA-led government, which got down to business after the much-awaited expansion of the council of ministers yesterday.

The other issues to figure in the list would be the early completion of the five bridges over the Brahmaputra and a second road-cum-rail bridge over the river in Guwahati.

Assam PCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita told The Telegraph here today that there would be both short-term as well as long-term development programmes to be included in the list to be placed before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam.

“A lot of things will be discussed and finalised in the greater interest of the state though a special package and development of infrastructure both roads and bridges will figure prominently in our list to be submitted to the Manmohan Singh government. The final shape will emerge only tomorrow but we have very high hopes from the UPA government,” Kalita said.

The PCC’s wishlist and Dispur’s stress to ministers to concentrate in the rural belt and weed out corruption from welfare schemes show the party is going all out to best its rivals in the 2011 Assembly poll race.

Kalita, himself a Rajya Sabha member, also said a thorough discussion on the party’s performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections will be taken up at the PCC executive next month.

The Congress won seven of the 13 seats it contested in the state, two less than what it had won in 2004. The AUDF and alliance partner BPF, party insiders admit, hurt the Congress’s prospects.

PCC sources said the non-inclusion of more ministers from the state might be discussed in tomorrow’s meeting. “But the party line is clear... There could be inclusion in the future and that it is not a state cabinet. The interests of the entire country needs to be seen instead of only one state. Ours is, after all, a national party,” one of them said, referring to the disappointment over allocation of ministerial berths.

Aspirants who lost out protest in Assam

BPF may review support to the Tarun Gogoi government


Guwahati: The exclusion of certain aspirants from Assam in the Manmohan Singh Ministry has created political unease.

The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), a coalition partner of the Congress in the State, is reviewing its support to the Tarun Gogoi government in protest against the non-inclusion of its lone MP, Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary.

BPF chief Hagrma Mahilary and Mr. Bwiswmuthiary expressed resentment that despite their party being a pre-poll ally of the United Progressive Alliance, it was denied a berth. The BPF central committee is set to meet on June 4 to decide on the issue.

In the 126-member Assam Assembly the Congress has 54 legislators. The BPF has 11 members, three of whom are in the Gogoi Cabinet. The effective House strength is down to 125 following the resignation of Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal.

The legislator from the South Salmara Assembly constituency quit after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Dhubri constituency. Thus the AUDF’s strength stands at nine.

The Congress now has 54 members, the BPF has 11, the Asom Gana Parishad has 25, the Bharatiya Janata Party has 10, the AUDF has nine and the CPI(M) has two.
The CPI, the Autonomous State Demand Committee and the Nationalist Congress Party have one each. There are also 11 independents.
Resentment has also surfaced among Congress leaders and workers as only one of its seven MPs — Bijoy Krishna Handique — has found a berth, while both the MPs from Meghalaya — one from the Congress, Vincent H. Pala, and the other from the NCP, Agatha Sangma — have been inducted. The latter is the youngest Minister.
The Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, the tea workers’ union backed by the Congress, and the Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association have voiced resentment over the non-inclusion of the Congress MP from Dibrugarh, Paban Singh Ghatowar. A representative of the tea tribes, he is the ACMS president. Effigies of Mr. Gogoi were burnt by protestors in tea gardens in Upper Assam.

Councillor family killed in Assam

Guwahati, May 20 : Two men in shorts and T-shirts walked into a Congress councillor’s house in Diphu and shot dead three members of his family this evening.

Apu Das, the councillor, and his brother Ujjal were at their furniture shop when the gunmen came around 7.45pm. They shot Das’s wife Manju, 40, daughter Momi, 17, niece Juhi, 8, and a private tutor, Seema Roy. All died on the spot.

A woman neighbour was injured in the attack.

Police sources said the duo came on foot and fired indiscriminately.

Quoting eyewitnesses, the police said the killers used an AK-series rifle and a pistol.

Das is the councillor of ward 3, a thickly populated Bengali-dominated locality in Karbi Anglong district in central Assam.

The motive behind the killings is yet to be ascertained but the involvement of militants is not ruled out. “It could also be an extortion-related case,” a police official said.

This morning, around 75km from Diphu, six militants of the National Democratic Front of Boroland were gunned down by a police team.

A police source said the killing of Das’s family could be in retaliation to the gunning down of the militants but official confirmation was not available.

“The assailants opened fire on all the members sitting in the drawing room and left the spot within minutes,” a police officer said.

Anita Majumdar, the injured neighbour, said: “I heard the gunshots from my kitchen. When I rushed out, a bullet hit me in the leg. I ran back into the house.”

Anita was admitted to Diphu civil hospital but shifted to an army hospital in Dimapur, Nagaland, around 40km from Diphu.

Travelling through Assam's battleground

By Gayatri B

Nowgong, Apr 20 : Ahead of the elections, travelling through Assam's battleground, one gets a feel of the political heat in the state. In different constituencies, amidst varying expectations and sentiments of the people, the performances of the politicians are being rated, discussed and debated. And here's how the scenario looks.

Bad roads and a broken school - shows the tardy pace of development in Congress's crorepati candidate's constituency. Mani Kumar Subba in his 11 years has been as elusive to his voters as he has been with us today while we tried to track him down."

"We have never seen him," says a village woman. Whereas, holding a poster of his, another little boy says, "This person is a king."

As one moves to the towns the resentment is more pronounced. "He doesn't know to speak any language properly," says one. We have been allowing a fool to rule us, no more," puts forth another local. But Mani Subba knows how to win elections. Just before elections, his party comes and distributes money to the voters but right after elections, he vanishes. The mood in the neighbouring constituency, however, is upbeat.

Kaliabor is in many ways Assam's real battleground. This is AGP's bastion, Prafulla Mahanta's homeground, Tarun Gogoi's turf and now his brother's and to take the battle on are the two crorepati brothers Sirajuddin and Badruddin Ajmal of AUDF - a party which threatens to change the political landscape of Assam.
With a 30 per cent minority population in the state Ajmal cannot be ignored.

"Our party is 85 per cent for the benefit of the minority. We are challenging Tarun Gogoi by contesting from this seat which was long misruled by Congress," says AUDF President, Badruddin Ajmal.

Not far from this battleground, it's the BJP which is in full bloom in Nowgaon. It is candidate Rajen Gohain expected to return for a third time.

"We will vote for Rajen Gohain, but he could have done more substantial work," says a local.
It's been an intensely political election this time where issues don't seem to matter. The rise of the AUDF and the alliance of the AGP-BJP has penetrated into Congress strongholds and could well throw up some surprises.

Assam BJP MP denies Congress allegations

Nagaon (Assam), Apr 20 Sitting BJP MP of Nowgong Rajen Gohain today denied Congress&aposs allegations that he had written letter to party president Rajnath Singh suggesting poll understanding with Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF).

Gohain told reporters here that if he had"written any such letter, how come Rajnath Singh does not possess it but Assam Health Minister and Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma has allegedly got hold of it".

Congress has been making repeated allegations that AGP-BJP combine and AUDF, a party of the minority community, have entered into an understanding to divide the minority vote on which Congress largely depends.

"Moreover, if the letter was sent to Rajnath Singh, then how can Sarma claim that he has the original which he got tested in the forensic laboratory," Gohain said.

The BJP MP, however, agreed that the signature in the letter may be his as he had"signed blank letter heads and kept it in BJP office for emergency use".

"I believe this could have been manipulated by a former trusted aide of mine who later joined Congress,"he said.

Sarmah yesterday alleged that Gohain had written a letter to BJP President Rajnath Singh to garner support of the AUDF to defeat Congress.

Congress eyes paradise lost

RIPUNJOY DAS

Big Fight -Dibrugarh

The stage is set for a high voltage contest between Congress warhorse and president of the Asom Chah Mazdoor Sangha, Paban Singh Ghatowar, and young Sarbananda Sonowal of the AGP, the sitting MP. While the Congress is trying to regain its lost fortress with Ghatowar again deciding to use the trade union platform to garner votes from the tea community, the AGP — the main Opposition particularly after the reunification — is determined to retain the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat. Since Independence, Dibrugarh has always been considered a Congress bastion. Ghatowar has been representing the seat since 1991 and was seen as an “invincible person” for the Congress in Dibrugarh that has a sizeable number of tea tribe voters. The party, however, not only lost the seat during the 2004 parliamentary elections, but Ghatowar was pushed to a pathetic third spot. Kamakhya Prasad Tasa of the BJP came second. This time, because of the seat-sharing arrangements between the AGP and the BJP, the BJP did not field any candidate in Dibrugarh. The seasoned Ghatowar, who is trying to regain his “lost paradise,” is busy campaigning. He is seen almost everywhere these days along with either his parliamentary secretary and legislator wife Jibantara, or the state water resources and labour minister, Prithibi Majhi. Ghatowar’s main campaign manager is power and industries minister Pradyut Bordoloi, who is a spokesman for the PCC and the government. Other Congress MLAs, including Pranati Phukon, Rajendra Prasad Singh and Rameswar Dhanowar, too, have been accompanying Ghatowar on one occasion or the other. The Assembly segments that come under the Lok Sabha seat are Moran, Dibrugarh, Lahowal, Duliajan, Tinsukia, Tingkhong, Naharkatia, Margherita and Digboi. There are nearly five lakh voters from the mainstream Assamese community, three lakh from the tea community and another three lakh comprising Bengalis, Hindi-speaking people, Nepalese and others. There are around 80,000 voters from the minority community. Unlike last time, the constituency is witnessing a straight contest between Ghatowar and Sonowal, with a total of 10 candidates in the fray. While Ratul Gogoi of the CPI and Romen Chandra Borthakur of the NCP are expected to take away some of Sonowal’s votes, candidates like Gangaram Koul of the CPI (M-L) and Francis Dhan of the National People’s Party (NPP) will make some dent in Ghatowar’s vote bank. However, the fight will be basically a direct one to one between Ghatowar and Sonowal.

Congress vote-bank politics has harmed Assam: Modi

GUWAHATI, April 12 – The choice in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Assam would be between vote-bank politics of the Congress party and the politics of development that the National Democratic Alliance stood for. It is the politics of vote bank that has created the gravest of problems in the State, which has been under Congress rule for several decades.

Asserting this at a campaign rally of the BJP’s candidate for the Guwahati constituency, Biyoya Chakravarty, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that the time has arrived for the electorate to bury the Congress for good, so that much needed development can be ushered in. The future of the entire country would reside on the foundation of development, he said.

Contrasting the status of drinking water availability in Assam with Gujarat, he said that while a place like Guwahati had limited access to potable water, every village in water-starved Gujarat had access to water. “This shows the difference between vote-bank politics and what can be achieved by politics of development,” Modi thundered.

He agreed with BJP leader LK Advani, who had described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a weak leader. “Had you been strong, you would have arrived in Assam the very next day after the blasts that killed and injured scores of people…You would have dismissed a cabinet minister who had favoured granting citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants.”

Modi referring to the security scene in Assam said that the Congress Party has failed to ensure the safety and security of people across the State. “Vote bank politics would never eradicate terrorism from the State,” he said.

Appealing to the people of the State to vote for the NDA and the leadership of LK Advani, Modi noted that only if the NDA came to power would the fruits of development be enjoyed by the masses. “Unlike in the case of the Congress, the NDA believes that the first claim on the country’s wealth is that of the poor,” he commented.

“I have spoken at several rallies today, and I feel a change coming…the Congress Party would be finished in Assam!” the senior BJP leader claimed.

Addressing the gathering, Bijoya Chakravarty sought the blessings of the electorate, and promised a discernible difference to Guwahati and Assam when the NDA came to power.

AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary told cheering crowds that no major development has taken place in Assam during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA government. “All the major benefits that the State has enjoyed was because of the initiatives of the AGP government and the BJP government,” he remarked.

Several other BJP AGP leaders attended today’s campaign rally, including SS Ahluwalia, Sudhangshu Mittal, Dhruba Baishya and Ramen Kalita.

Our Correspondesnts add:

Nagaon: “Vote for the BJP-AGP combine and save Assam,” said Narendra Modi here today while addressing a large crowd. He said that the voters had three options – to vote for the UPA whose partners share power with Congress in New Delhi, but turn into vocal critics of the Congress in their states, or the third front that does knows neither their leader nor its objective, or vote for the NDA which will never break.

It is the wish of the people that the NDA should come to power, Modi said, adding that Advani represents nationalism and the NDA is for the welfare of India and also for Assam. Modi criticized the UPA, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in particular, because he did nothing for Assam even though he was elected from the State.

Rangiya: Narendra Modi today accused the ruling UPA government in centre and the Congress Government in Assam of failing totally in providing the basic needs of the poor and the deprived. “Both the governments are turning a deaf ear to the burning problem afflicting the common man and the development process has been completely sidelined,” he said while addressing a public rally.

Criticising the Congress, the BJP leader said that the party was only trying to play vote-bank politics in Assam to woo the voters but failed to understand the problems of the people.

Urging the people to vote for the BJP, Modi said that if elected to power his party would accord top priority to development and providing a stable government. “The State of Assam has seen no development under the Congress regime ,” Modi said adding that it was high time the people ousted the Congress by putting up a united stand.

Jorhat: “The vote bank politics patronized by the ruling Congress party has crippled India during the last 60 years”, said Narendra Modi, addressing a huge election rally at Jorhat District Sports Association (JDSA) Field here today.

The prominent BJP leader, Modi arrived here at 11-30 am to campaign for Kamakhya Tasa, the young BJP candidate of the Jorhat constituency for the ensuing LS election.

Modi further added that the illegal migrants from Bangladesh during the rule of Congress have changed the demography and socio-economic structure of Assam which is a serious threat for the indigenous people of the land.

Criticizing the Congress government and the MP of Jorhat constituency he said that the scarcity of drinking water in the district itself is the worst example of the vote bank politics of the party in power, while the river Brahamaputra is only 10 km away from the Jorhat town. Contrasting to it he presented the picture of Gujrat, where BJP government linked 1400 km of pipeline from Narmada within 700 days and provided drinking water to 8000 villages.

The insecurity of life in Assam according to the Chief Minister of Gujrat was due to the failure of the Congress government in both the state and Centre. It indicated the unheeded attitude of the government for the common folk. In Assam there occurred four blasts within a week which according to him was an astonishing instance.

Rebel link slur on Opposition

Tarun Gogoi at the news conference on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, April 10 : Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today alleged that some Opposition parties were hand-in-glove with the secessionist and proscribed Ulfa.

Leaders of the A and C companies of Ulfa’s 28 battalion had recently stated that the outfit had helped parties during successive elections, thus lending credibility to popular perceptions about a militant-politician nexus.

All major political parties, in a rare show of unanimity, had, however, denied the assertion. The leaders had not named the parties the outfit had helped.

Addressing a news conference at Rajiv Bhawan here this evening, Gogoi said his charge was based on available reports. He also did not name the parties allegedly having a nexus with Ulfa saying: “We have reports and are verifying them.”

“There are reports about Ulfa creating problems during the polls with help of some political forces. I won’t name the parties as we are trying to verify the reports. You can also assess for yourself as to who is supporting Ulfa and who is soft on Ulfa, which is a pawn in the hands of foreign powers.” Gogoi said. The happenings in Pakistan and Bangladesh were a warning to all of us to remain vigilant, he added.

Dismissing the demands of the AGP-BJP that Gogoi should resign, he said the performance of his government was better than that of the AGP-led governments. Gogoi also reminded everybody present that the Congress won the panchayat elections that followed the Beltola incident on November 24, 2007. He took a dig at the BJP’s Bijoya Chakravarty for joining hands with “secret killers” (meaning the AGP) with which the BJP has an electoral tie-up.

The other parties were swift to react. AGP spokesman Apurba Bhattacharjee said, “Coming from a responsible person such as the chief minister, the allegation only reflects the government’s inability to tackle the situation. One fails to understand why he had to go public before verifying the facts. This only reflects his irresponsible nature. We have always condemned violence. How does it help if we take the name of Ulfa? Will these incidents not happen then? Will innocent people stop dying?”

The BJP went a step further with its spokesman Charan Deka accusing the Congress of having a nexus not only with some militant groups of some northeastern states but also of Pakistan.

“The Congress is encouraging extremist groups of Pakistan and also anti-Assam activities of Muslim fundamentalists. Gogoi is levelling this allegation only to cover up the guilt of his own party. Therefore, Gogoi should stop levelling such baseless allegations,” Deka said. 

As proof of better governance, Gogoi cited figures about the number of incidents, security personnel and civilians killed in the five years of the AGP regime between 1996 and 2001 and the Congress-led government from 2001 to 2009. “Things have improved under us. From an annual average of 528 incidents, death of 80 security personnel and 307 civilians during the AGP-led government, the average during our tenure has come down to 425 incidents, death of 28 security personnel and 199 civilians.”

Upset with seats, Cong tea cell to plough on

Guwahati, March 21 : Shrugging off its disappointment over the tea community not getting its share of tickets, the Congress tea cell is now working overtime to offset the impact of a newly floated party backed by the Adivasi/tea tribes organisations on the Congress support base in the garden areas.

The tea community has the largest presence in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Koliabor and Tezpur parliamentary seats and the tea cell was hoping for at least two nominations from these constituencies. But the party has given the ticket only to Pawan Singh Ghatowar from Dibrugarh. 

Stating that it was unfortunate that the community did not get more than one seat, the cell’s chairman, Bhagirat Karan, said his organisation was not allowing the disappointment to hamper its work. “The challenge before us now is to retain the party’s traditional vote base among the tea community and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that.”

The cell has also offered an olive branch to the disgruntled students’ body — the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association — which has threatened to prevent the entry of some Congress leaders and candidates in the tea garden areas. “We don’t want any confrontation with ATTSA. We will definitely try to address the issues raised by the students,” Karan said. “It is true that we could not solve all the problems, but we are sincere and committed to solving the problems, unlike other parties which are shedding crocodile tears for the community only for political mileage.”

Karan said other than the Congress, no other party has any agenda or programmes for the tea communities. Nor do they have any organisations in the tea belts. In the absence of any programmes and organisations, not a single party, including the recently floated National People’s Party, backed by some tea organisations, would be able to cut into the Congress’s vote base, Karan claimed. 

At the same time, he said, the cell has intensified its campaign in the tea garden areas so that the voters were not misguided by propaganda. “Merely nominating candidates from the tea tribes would not bring votes. Let the Opposition parties tell the people what their agenda is for the community. We are going to the people with the list of programmes the Congress government has undertaken and implemented for the welfare of the tea community,” he said. 

Karan was hopeful that the tea voters would not be swayed by the “propaganda” of the other political parties. Some tea organisations were politically “mature” and well aware as to which party would serve their interests.

Assamese almanac foretells UPA will form government at centre

Guwahati, Feb 25 : The Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is likely to form the government at the centre for the second straight term, while violence could rock the northeastern state of Assam by the year end, according to a forecast by a highly regarded Assamese almanac.

The stars favour the Congress party and so we believe the UPA would once again come to power, Pulin Chandra Dev, editor of Kalpurush Panjika, a calendar based on the movement of planets and stars.

The Kalpurush Panjika, a mass circulation astrological calendar in Assam that entered its 26th year of publication, was released Tuesday.

In Assam also, the Congress is expected to do well in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections mainly due to the clean image of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Dev told IANS, quoting from the calendar.

The Kalpurush Panjika gave something to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to cheer about in Assam although its alliance with the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) could be fraught with danger.

The influence in Assam would increase although its alliance with the AGP might not get the desired results as the tie up could probably split. But surely the alliance would gain marginally during the elections, the Kalpurush Panjika said.

Mention was also made of possible violence of high magnitude in Assam sometime later this year or early next year.

Some big violence or explosions could take place either by December this year or sometime around January 2010, Dev said.

Former Delhi Congress chief Ram Babu is dead

New Delhi, Jan 29 Ram Babu Sharma, Congress legislator from north east Delhi’s Rohtas Nagar constituency and a former Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief, died early Wednesday after cardiac arrest. He was 53.

Sharma, survived by wife and three children, was cremated in the capital.

Sharma died at 1 a.m. following a heart attack at the Apollo Hospital here, said DPCC president J.P. Aggarwal.
‘Ram Babu was suffering from cancer and was admitted in the hospital Jan 16. However, he had a heart attack and passed away early this morning,’ hospital officials said.
His body was brought to the DPCC office at 1 p.m. for people to pay their last tributes to the departed soul. Many senior political leaders from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party visited.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her cabinet colleagues were present at the Nigam Bodh Ghat near Kashmere Gate for the last rites.
‘He was cremated around 2:30 p.m.,’ Aggarwal said.
Sharma began his political career as a worker of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and was elected to the Delhi assembly for the second time in last year’s polls from Rohtas Nagar constituency. He was first elected in 2003.
He was the DPCC chief from 2003 to 2007, after which Aggarwal took over.
He twice successfully contested the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls and was the leader of the house and chairman of the MCD standing committee.