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Cong playing divisive politics: AGP

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 25 � Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader and former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Wednesday accused the Congress of having a role in the renewed demand for a separate Bodoland, terming it as a ploy to divert people�s attention from the NC Hills scam and river dam issues ahead of the coming State Assembly polls.

�The Congress today stands exposed due to its misrule and unprecedented corruption. The party which is increasingly finding itself cornered has a vested interest in the renewed clamour for a separate State of Bodoland because it wants to divert people�s attention from the real issues like NC Hills scam and mega dams,� Mahanta said at a press conference.

The former Chief Minister said that the Congress has a history of indulging in divisive politics since independence. �The erstwhile Assam got divided into seven States due to the divisive politics of the Congress. And had not Mahatma Gandhi put his weight behind Assam, it would have been merged with Bangladesh during partition,� he said.

Mahanta said that the Rs 1,000-crore NC Hills scam as also various major financial anomalies hitting media headlines in the recent past were having a debilitating impact on the State�s economy. �On the one hand it talks about development and on the other it allows large-scale corruption to take place,� he said.

Clarifying on the AGP�s earlier stand on big dams, Mahanta said that the party was in favour of multi-purpose hydel projects only which could help moderate floods and provide irrigation, besides generating power. �Moreover, it is only after the year 2000 that adverse effects of large dams were increasingly coming into public domain,� he said, adding that the Congress Government had made a total surrender before the corporate lobby for big dams by ignoring mass protests and even experts� opinion.

Reacting to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi�s reported statement that he would not �function as per dictates of Mahanta�, the AGP leader said that Gogoi should run his government as per neither Mahanta�s dictates nor his own.

�Gogoi as Chief Minister should function in accordance with the country�s Constitution and rule of law and nothing else,� he said.

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