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Gogoi rules out early Assembly polls

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, April 20 � Despite political winds blowing in its favour, Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of advancing the Assembly election. The State is scheduled to go to polls next year.

An upbeat-looking Chief Minister said though the political conditions were favourable, he was not about to advance the polls. The Assembly election would be held according to schedule, he asserted.

The Chief Minister set at rest speculation over the possibility of the Assam Congress opting to go for early polls to further checkmate the Opposition. A division within the Opposition parties, breakup of ties between Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and BJP and most-important of all, weakening of ULFA, in the aftermath of detention of several of its top leaders, were considered the right moment for the ruling party to seize the initiative.

�The political climate has been favourable to us for a long time now, but that does not mean that I am in a hurry to advance the elections,� he said, replying to questions.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister hinted towards some positive developments in coming days on the ULFA front. Though he declined to elaborate, he said, �We are likely to get good news soon.�

�We are trying our level best to start dialogue,� he said.

The �good news�, the Chief Minister hinted may be a breakthrough in the State Government�s attempt to engage the detained ULFA central committee members, including the surrendered militants belonging to the �A� and �C� companies of the dreaded 28th battalion of the militant outfit in political dialogue.

Back channel communication had been opened with the top leaders including the chairman of ULFA, Arabinda Rajkhowa, self-styled foreign secretary, Sasha Choudhury, Chitraban Hazarika, Raju Barua, all handed over by Bangladesh. The vice chairman, Pradip Gogoi was already in custody and has since been released on bail along with another top leader.

Meanwhile, the State Government is unlikely to soften its stand on dialogue with outlawed ULFA. Commenting on �commander-in-chief� Paresh Baruah�s latest statement, Gogoi reiterated the government�s known stand and ruled out the possibility of talking about sovereignty.

�Our idea is to involve everybody including Paresh Baruah, but we cannot wait indefinitely,� he asserted.

�We are not going to wait indefinitely,� he stressed.

The Chief Minister was reacting to Baruah�s statement in connection with the State-level convention organised to revive the ULFA peace process. The �commander-in-chief� made it clear that the outfit would sit for talks only on the issue of sovereignty of Assam.

In a statement, he said ULFA would never give up its demand and ideology in the interest of holding talks.

ULFA would sit for talks only if the Government of India agrees to hold talks on the issue of sovereignty of Assam and agree to hold plebiscite on the issue.

The Chief Minister said the State Government�s case is very clear. �You have to shun the path of violence before preparing to sit for talks,� he said.

Government cannot hold talks with them unless they abandon violence and there is no question of sovereignty. �We are here to uphold the Constitution,� he clarified.

Meanwhile, Gogoi likened ULFA with Maoists stating that modus operandi and objectives of both were same.

�I don�t think there is much of a distinction between ULFA and the Maoists. The method may be different but their objectives are same.

Both aim to overthrow governments and are against development and believe in making false propaganda. Both harass the people, he added.

But he appealed to the Naxals, urging them to follow the footsteps of the BLT, which after giving up armed struggle joined the democratic process and is now part of the ruling alliance both at the Centre and the State.

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