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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led a procession here before filing his nomination papers for the Jalukbari assembly constituency on Friday. The procession began from the Veterinary Field in Khanapara area heading to the Kamrup (Metropolitan) District Election office, around 5.6 kms away, with Himanta atop a vehicle, flanked by his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, son Nandil Biswa Sarma and the BJP's Gauhati Lok Sabha MP Bijuli Kalita Medhi. Prior to setting out to file the papers, the chief minister sought the blessings of his mother Mrinalini Devi. ''Auspicious occasions should always begin with mother's blessings. Though I don't get to spend much time with her these days, her blessings always power me to continue serving Aai Asomi (mother Assam),'' Sarma said in a post on X. Despite heavy overnight and early morning rains, a huge crowd of people, mostly from his constituency, had gathered at the field since early morning. In another post earlier in the day, he said, ''Invitin
The Gauhati High Court on Thursday appointed an exclusive fast-track sessions court for conducting day-to-day trial proceedings in the Zubeen Garg death case, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Baksa district judge Sharmila Bhuyan will head the fast-track court. "Today marks a significant milestone in our collective pursuit of justice in the Zubeen Garg murder case," Sarma said in a post on X. "The Hon'ble Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court has been pleased to nominate Smt. Sharmila Bhuyan, presently serving as District Judge, Baksa, to preside over an exclusive fast-track sessions court for conducting day-to-day trial proceedings in this matter," he added. The 52-year-old singer died while swimming in the sea on September 19 last year in Singapore, where he had gone to attend the fourth North East India Festival. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Assam Police's CID had probed the death and filed its charge sheet before a local court here, naming seven ...
The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 88 candidates for the Assam assembly polls, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari seat. The party named former Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi as its candidate from Dispur assembly seat. Bordoloi joined the BJP in the presence of Sarma and other party leaders here on Wednesday. According to the list, Bhupen Kumar Borah, who also joined the BJP recently after leaving the Congress, will contest from Bihpura seat. Madhavi Das will enter the fray from Birsing-Jarua, Jyotsana Kalita from Chamaria and Nilima Devi from Mangaldai. The first list of candidates was finalised by the BJP's Central Election Committee at its meeting presided over by party president Nitin Nabin here on Wednesday evening. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other members of the BJP poll body. BJP Assam unit chief Dilip Saikia was also present at the meeting.
After Assam MP Pradyut Bordoloi joined the BJP, his son Prateek announced that he won't contest on a Congress ticket from Margherita in the upcoming assembly polls. In a letter to Congress president and chairman of the Central Election Committee Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday, Prateek said he would continue to remain a party member. Following his father's decision to join another party, it would not be appropriate for him to continue as a Congress candidate from Margherita, Prateek said in the letter, which was shared with reporters on Thursday. "With utmost respect and a deep sense of responsibility towards the party, I wish to convey my decision to withdraw my candidacy from the Margherita Assembly Constituency," he said. Prateek asserted that he will continue to work for the party in whatever capacity the leadership deems appropriate. His father, a Congressman for over five decades, had resigned from the grand old party on Tuesday and joined the BJP the next day.
In a jolt to the opposition Congress, Assam's Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi on Tuesday resigned from the party, barely 20 days ahead of assembly elections in the state. Bordoloi has sent his resignation letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, state media department chairman Bedabrata Bora told PTI. A former state cabinet minister and two-time MP from Nagaon constituency, Bordoloi's son is a Congress candidate from Margherita seat for the state polls due on April 9. In the one-line resignation letter addressed to Kharge, the MP said, "With an overwhelming sense of sadness today, I hereby tender my resignation from all posts, privileges and the primary membership of the Indian National Congress." A copy of the letter is available with PTI. Bora said state party chief Gaurav Gogoi and AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh are meeting with Bordoloi over the issue at the national capital.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said he is confident that the BJP will return to power in Assam under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma with the "largest ever mandate". Addressing the youth convention of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) here, Shah urged the people to give another mandate to the BJP and assured them that "every infiltrator will be sent out of India". His comment comes on a day when the Election Commission (EC) announced that the Assam assembly elections would be held on April 9 and the counting on May 4. "I am confident that the BJP will again form a government in Assam with the largest ever mandate and power of the youths," he said. In the current 126-member assembly, the ruling BJP's strength is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and the BPF has three members. ''The Congress gave shelter to infiltrators, but the BJP government is determined to identify each one of them and drive them out of the country," Shah
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for health projects worth Rs 2,092 crore in Assam. Shah inaugurated the Rs 675-crore Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati, at a programme held on its premises. He also virtually inaugurated two cancer centres at Golaghat and Tinsukia, both under Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF), constructed at a cost of Rs 135 crore each. Shah virtually laid the foundation stone for super-speciality hospitals at Diphu Medical College and Hospital (Rs 220 crore), Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (Rs 310 crore), and Barpeta Medical College and Hospital (Rs 284 crore). The foundation stone for a Rs 218-crore Swasthya Bhawan in Guwahati, and the Abhayapuri District Hospital (Rs 115 crore) were also laid by the Union home minister. Shah arrived here on Saturday evening on a two-day visit to Assam, his fourth visit to the northeastern state in four months.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for health projects worth Rs 2,092 crore in Assam on Sunday. He will also address a convention of the BJP's youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), in the afternoon. Shah arrived here on Saturday evening on a two-day visit to Assam. This is his fourth visit to the northeastern state in four months. On Saturday evening, he held closed-door meetings with senior BJP functionaries, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on poll-related issues, a BJP spokesperson said. Shah will inaugurate the Rs 675-crore Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) here, and virtually launch cancer centres at Golaghat and Tinsukia, both under Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF), constructed at a cost of Rs 135 crore each. He will also virtually lay the foundation stone for super-speciality hospitals at Diphu Medical College and Hospital (Rs 220 crore), Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (Rs 310 crore), a
Asserting that the Centre was working to minimise the impacts of global conflicts on the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that the opposition Congress was acting "irresponsibly" by trying to create panic in the country. Addressing a public meeting in Assam's Silchar, Modi alleged that the Congress had ignored the Northeast and allowed such drawing of a border during Independence that cut off Barak Valley's access to the sea. "As the world is facing wars, our effort is to minimise their impact on the people of the country. The Congress should have performed the role of a responsible political party, but it failed to do so. It is trying to create panic among the people," he alleged. "They do not have any vision either for Assam or the nation but only know how to abuse Modi, spread rumours and lies to mislead people," he claimed. Modi said Barak Valley was once a major hub of trade and commerce. "Just as Congress left the North-East on its own, in a similar wa
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch projects worth around Rs 23,550 crore in Silchar on Saturday, marking the final leg of his two-day tour of Assam ahead of the assembly elections. After spending the night in Guwahati, the Prime Minister will depart for Silchar this morning to perform the 'bhoomi poojan' for the Rs 22,860 crore Shillong-Silchar Corridor project, the first access-controlled greenfield high-speed expressway in the North-East, officials said. The 166-km four-lane corridor will considerably enhance connectivity between Meghalaya and Assam, reduce the distance between Guwahati and Silchar, cutting travel time from 8.5 hours to around 5 hours, thereby fostering economic growth and cross-border trade in the region. Modi will also perform the 'bhoomi poojan' for an elevated corridor on NH-306, from Trunk Road near Capital Point to Rangirkhari Point in Silchar (Phase I). This project aims to alleviate congestion on one of Silchar's busiest roads, improve links with ..
The Assam government has announced increasing the daily wage of tea garden workers by Rs 30 from next month, an official notification said. The hike will be applicable for workers in estate gardens as well as in small tea gardens in the state, which is the country's largest tea-producing state. "Consequent upon the recommendation of Minimum Wages Advisory Board for tea plantation workers of Assam in its meeting on 26.2.2026, Governor of Assam is pleased to allow an interim increase of Rs 30 in the interim minimum wages of the tea plantation workers with effect from 1.4.2026," the notification issued on March 7 said. Accordingly, tea workers in Brahmaputra valley will receive Rs 280 per day against the existing Rs 250, while those in Barak valley will be paid Rs 258 daily against the current Rs 228 from April one. The increase in the interim wages will also be applicable for workers engaged in small tea gardens both in Brahmaputra and Barak valley, the notification added. The minim
Emphasising that women empowerment has been central to Assam's growth story, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday, on the occasion of International Women's Day, said that nearly 40 lakh 'Orunodoi' beneficiaries will receive Rs 9,000 each next week. The consolidated payment comprising grants for four months along with an additional amount will be made on Tuesday, making it a record bank transfer of Rs 3,600 crore on a single day under a government scheme, he claimed. The single-day transfer to women beneficiaries comes as the state gears up for Assembly elections, when the BJP-led government will seek a third straight term. "On March 10 at 10.30 am, 40 lakh Orunodoi families will receive Rs 9,000 each," Sarma said in a Facebook Live. Orunodoi is a flagship poverty alleviation scheme of the current government, under which eligible women beneficiaries receive Rs 1,250 per month. On the occasion, meetings will be held at the local level across the state, and the CM invited the
More than one lakh mature full-grown trees have been felled across Assam since May 2016, when the BJP formed its first government in the state, for various public and private projects, according to official records. The Assam government, on the other hand, said that all these trees were cut in "dire necessity" to develop the projects, while more than 3.5 crore saplings have been planted in the last two years alone to compensate the loss in green cover. However, experts from different state-run institutions opined that cutting so many trees have resulted in "significant ecological loss" and comparing felling of mature trees with planting saplings is "problematic", while terming it "scientifically concerning" for no study to assess the impact. Replying to a set of queries sent to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) through an application under the Right to Information Act, 15 out of 44 wildlife and territorial divisions across Assam have said that 1,06,896 trees have been
Former Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah on Sunday joined the ruling BJP in the presence of its state unit president Dilip Saikia here. Borah became a BJP member during a function held at the Assam BJP headquarters 'Vajpayee Bhawan'. Along with him, former Congress worker Sanju Bora, too, joined the saffron party. Borah had resigned on February 16, with the Congress high command not accepting it and senior leaders rushing to his residence, while Rahul Gandhi also spoke to him. He had asked for time to reconsider his decision, but the next day, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma went to his residence and announced that he would join the BJP on February 22. The 126-member Assam assembly is expected to go to polls in March-April.
Asserting that if India can be free of Naxals, it can also be free of infiltrators, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the illegal immigrants would be removed not only from the electoral rolls but also from the country in the next five years. Shah was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for a new campus of the Assam Police 10th Battalion, which he said would be constructed on land freed from encroachments by infiltrators. "It is, however, not enough to evict the infiltrators from the encroached land as they will go and settle elsewhere... They must be removed from the country," he said. Attacking Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Shah said that the Congress leader had once said that infiltrators would be removed, but the "Congress can't do so as illegal immigrants are its votebank". Congress' policy of protecting the infiltrators has threatened Assam's 'jati' (people), 'mati' (land) and 'bheti' (foundation), he alleged. "If t