Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

AGP, ULFA two sides of the same coin: Cong

By STAFF Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 1 � The war of words between the Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) intensified today with the ruling party terming AGP and ULFA as �two sides of the same coin�.

�People of Assam have realised that you people (AGP) always had links with insurgents. And not only in 1985 but even in 1996, you contested the polls with support of the insurgents,� Minister for Power and Commerce & Industries Pradyut Bordoloi told reporters in the State Secretariat.

He added, �Otherwise, Congress candidate of Margherita constituency Binu Chetia would not have been killed, and nor would have Nagen Neog of Golaghat. In the 1996 Assembly elections, ULFA openly called upon the people to vote against Congress and vote for the AGP. You cannot erase that historical truth. And you will have to answer for it.�

He said Congress has always raised the issues of links between ULFA and AGP.

Bordoloi, who is also the State Government spokesman, said that instead of asking the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to apologise to the families of 855 martyrs of the Assam Agitation, AGP leaders should tender an apology to those families and also to families of over 1,000 Congress party workers who were reportedly killed by agitation supporters during 1979-1985.

�Mahanta, please apologise to the families of the 855 martyrs. And also apologise to the families of the over 1,000 Congress party workers who were killed by the agitationists and also by militants due to your encouragement. ULFA and AGP are the two sides of the same coin,� he said.

He said that in 1980 Mahanta and his then AASU colleagues rejected late Indira Gandhi�s proposal to identify and deport foreigners with 1966 as a base year as �at that time most of the AASU leaders were below 25 years of age and not eligible to contest the polls.�

He accused Mahanta and AGP leaders of prolonging the agitation by another five years for �selfish interest� and said for this they should apologise to the families of the martyrs.

Bordoloi said that AGP had encouraged and patronised ULFA since the regional party first formed the State government in 1985. He also alleged that during AGP�s first term in office between 1985 and 1990, two ministers had visited ULFA camps at Lakhipathar and at an interior place near Margherita and even provided logistical support.

He added that the first AGP government was dismissed by the Centre before completion of its term due to such links.

Regarding former Governor S K Sinha�s claim that a former ULFA member is now a member of the Gogoi Cabinet, Bordoloi said that if anybody has any such proof he or she should bring it to public domain. �As far as we know, Sinha wanted an AGP government in 2001. Maybe he had good views about the AGP,� he said.

Next Story