Imphal, June 28: Even as the deadline for the Ministry downsizing is nearing, Chief Minister O Ibobi has come increasingly under immense pressure ahead of the impending pruning of his jumbo sized Ministry. According to information received from reliable sources, the earlier model worked out by the SPF for the downsizing may undergo some marked changes and even as these changes are being worked out, immense pressure has been mounted on the Chief Minister. As per the earlier model worked out tentatively, the downsizing was to be effected district wise with nine senior Cabinet Ministers to...

Guwahati, June 28: The Assam Congress today heaved a sigh of relief when two cabinet ministers — power minister Debananda Konwar and industry minister Bhubaneswar Kalita — put in their papers after initial reservation. Konwar sent his resignation through a personal aide, while Kalita personally handed over his to chief minister Tarun Gogoi. There was a lot of apprehension in the party over the two leaders’ initial indifferent response to the chief minister’s request on relinquishing their posts before he downsized the government.

“Both of them made their reservations known and hence, the...

Agartala, June 28: CPI minister Manindra Reang, who had allegedly been forced to sign his letter of resignation from the cabinet by CPM miscreants, has denied media reports on the issue and the statement made by CPI party secretary Prashanta Kopali yesterday. In statement faxed to CPM office and circulated by CPM workers, Reang said he supported the downsizing of the ministry as required by the 97th Amendment of the Constitution and had voluntarily sent his letter of resignation to chief minister Manik Sarkar. He described the media reports as “totally baseless and malicious”.

Imphal, June 28: The proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) has waged a war against the drug menace in Bishenpur, one of the four valley districts of Manipur. The banned outfit, in a statement today, said it would “liberate” Bishenpur, one of the worst drug-hit districts of the state, from “the deadly scourge of drug addiction by December this year”. The outfit asked traffickers, peddlers as well as addicts to shun drugs by December.

The outfit also confirmed that it had killed a peddler, one Ningthoujam Raja alias Inaothi, a resident of the district, on the eve of the International Day...

Nagaon, June 28: The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) today made it clear to the Jayanta Rongpi faction that it would have to give up its Leftist ideology if it wants reunification. ASDC chief Holiram Terang today said his party would not consider any political relationship with the Left group and Rongpi’s unity proposal would be discussed only if “the leaders who left the party four years ago shed their CPI(M-L) tag and came only as members of the Progressive faction”.

The Rongpi-led group of the ASDC had recently proposed that the two factions merge to regain legitimacy in the...