Cong, AGP cross words over eviction drives

NEW DELHI, July 4 ? The battlelines between the Congress party and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have been drawn over the issue of the eviction drives, with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today charging the regional party with playing politics of opportunism. Describing the AGP?s charge of the Congress party protecting the Bangladeshi immigrants from being evicted, as baseless, false and malicious, Gogoi said that he was in a way glad that the regional party has raked up the issue. ?I want to know what the AGP during its tenure had done to evict these so called Bangladeshis, if there were any. They were in power for the last five years. What have they done to detect these Bangladeshis,? the Chief Minister questioned. If there were any Bangladeshis what prevented the AGP Government from detecting them,? Gogoi asked, seeking to leave no one in doubt that the Congress party was ready to take on the AGP on the issue. The going for Gogoi has been tough on the issue with the party?s Central leadership taking a keen interest on the eviction drives mounted by his Government. Yesterday, the party?s big wig grilled him on the issue seeking a detailed account of the recent eviction drives. The Chief Minister, it may be recalled here, has already announced setting up of an Expert Committee to frame an Action Plan to tackle the issue. He also mentioned the intention of the Government to grant permanent settlement to those who have settled in the forest land before 1980. But with the Supreme Court taking a stern view on the issue, and the party closely watching his steps as well as the Opposition raring for a fight, the choice before the Chief Minister may be very limited. The Chief Minister, meanwhile, called on several Central Ministers here today including the Minister for Water Resources, Arjan Sethi, Rural Development Minister, Shanta Kumar, Minister for Heavy Industries Balasaheb Vikhe Patil and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, KC Pant. In a significant move, Assam Government today revived an old resolution requesting that flood control expenditures should be renamed as infrastructure expenditures. The move would help the State Government in procuring loans and market borrowings. Securing funds from various external agencies like the Asian Development Bank would be easy. Gogoi raised the issue at his meeting with the Water Resources Minister in which the Minister of State for Water Resources, Bijoya Chakraborty was also present. The State Government was advised to move the Union Finance and Agriculture Ministry for the purpose. On the demand for naming the flood control problem as a national problem the Assam government was further asked to take it up with the Agriculture Ministry as the National Calamity Relief was handled by that Ministry.