Cong ally ups Bodoland agitation

He said his party,which has 11 MLAs,including a minister in Gogoi cabinet,would fight “from within” the government for the separate Bodo state. He defended his party’s decision saying if the ruling Congress itself could demand the separate state in Karbi Anglong hill district,there was nothing wrong for its ally to make a similar demand.

Meanwhile,the entire Northeast will be cut off from the rest of the country from Monday with the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) calling a 60-hour bandh. Railway services are yet to normalise following the 12-hour railway blockade by the ABSU on Friday.

In the hill district of Karbi Anglong,violence continued with protesters setting more government offices on fire. An office and a godown of the state Khadi Board were set on fire in Diphu,the headquarter town of Karbi Anglong district on Sunday. The Chief Minister,who returned from Delhi,meanwhile,urged protesters to desist from violence.

BJP: Impose President’s rule

The BJP on Sunday demanded imposition of President’s rule in the state alleging “total lawlessness prevailing in the region for the last five days”.

“The state government had information that Karbi Anglong and Kokrajhar would erupt once Telangana was announced. Even as the state continued to burn,the government preferred to remain as a silent spectator,” BJP national vice-president Bijoya Chakravarty said.

AGP questions Gogoi’s absence

Lambasting the Congress-led governments at the Centre and in the state for failing to anticipate the trouble,the Asom Gana Parishad on Sunday questioned Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s absence from the state capital. “How can a Chief Minister spends his time in the national capital when the state has been burning?” said AGP working president Atul Bora. The party,meanwhile,dispatched a

delegation to violence-hit Karbi Anglong.ENS