Saturday, June 7, 2008

Congress tea cell demands capital punishment for Bora

By our Staff ReporterGUWAHATI, June 6:
The fate of Asom’s sacked Education Minister Ripun Bora seems to be have become more grim as the tea cell of his own party, the Congress, has sought “capital punishment” for Bora for his alleged involvement in the murder of tea tribe leader Daniel Topno.“Bora himself exposed his involvement in the murder of Daniel Topno by trying to bribe the CBI and he should not be spared for indulging in the two crimes. We want capital punishment for Bora,” said Congress Tea Cell chairman Bhagirath Karan, while talking to The Sentinel today. It may be mentioned here that Topno was the president of the Gohpur unit of ATTSA.The bold stance of the Congress tea cell comes at a time when the entire Opposition is up in arms against the Congress-led State Government. The Congress Tea Cell is apprehending a serious backlash in the party’s poll prospects in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election as several tea tribes organizations, including a couple of students’ bodies, have taken to the streets on the issue.At least five Lok Sabha constituencies in the State — Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Kaliabor, Dibrugarh and Tezpur — are largely dominated by tea tribe communities and considered to be Congress strongholds. The Gohpur Assembly Constituency represented by Ripun Bora, where Daniel Topno was his rival candidate in the 2001 election, falls under Tezpur Parliamentary Constituency.Karan said the AGP and the BJP, however, have no moral right to make a hue and cry over the issue as the Opposition parties are only interested in gaining political mileage from the issue. “Topno was murdered on September 27, 2007 when the AGP Government was in power. Despite repeated demands made by the tea tribe organizations, including ATTSA, the AGP Government did not do anything to book the culprits and guilty officials,” he said. The AGP Government of that time did not even think it necessary to provide financial assistance to the poor family of the deceased tea tribe leader despite the fact that former Asom Assembly Speaker Ganesh Kutum hailed from the same constituency, he said.

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