Assam opposition parties demand government’s resignation

GUWAHATI - The combined opposition in Assam Tuesday demanded the state’s ruling Congress government resign for failing to curb price rise and its alleged involvement in the multi-million financial scam in the North Cachar Hills district.

More than 5,000 protesters led by leaders of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), and Left parties took to the streets of Assam’s main city of Guwahati with placards and shouting slogans.

“The government has no moral right to continue in office as they have failed in all fronts - price rise, corruption, and failing law and order situation,” AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary said while addressing an impromptu rally in the middle of a busy city thoroughfare.

Police baton-charged the protesters as they tried to break a barricade and storm the state secretariat. About 20 people were injured.

The opposition also charged the Congress government of being involved in the politician-militant-bureaucrat-contractor nexus involving government funds siphoned off in the North Cachar Hills district. The scam, unravelled by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) last year, was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Last month, CBI officials seized Rs 13.05 crore in cash stacked in sacks and boxes from the house of a relative of a scam-accused official in Guwahati.

“The government is involved in all kinds of corruption and wrong doings. It is time the chief minister tenders his resignation,” BJP state president Ranjit Dutta said.