Meghalaya cabinet ministers caught in anti-CAB stir, CM

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday postponed a scheduled meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah as his cabinet colleagues failed to reach the Guwahati Airport to board a plane to Delhi, amid curfew and violent protests in the neighbouring state.

Sangma, who had managed to reach the LGB airport, however, left for the national capital, official sources said.

"The CM had visited western Meghalaya earlier in the day. He took a separate route to reach the airport, on the outskirts of Guwahati. His cabinet colleagues, however, were stuck in violence-hit Guwahati," one of the sources said.

Assam, the hotbed of anti-citizenship bill protests, was on edge on Thursday as thousands of protesters came out on streets defying curfew, thumbing their nose at Army contingents staging flag marches, and clashing with police.

Sangma is scheduled to meet Shah, along with his cabinet miniters, to seek total exemption of Meghalaya from the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

"The cabinet could not reach the airport on Guwahati outskirts due to curfew and anti-CAB protests in Assam. The Chief Minister had to fly alone. The scheduled meeting with Amit Shah tonight has been postponed till tomorrow," an official close to the Chief Minister's Office told PTI.

The ministers will leave for Delhi on Friday by a chopper from Upper Shillong, he added.