Come out of ISI clutches, CM tells ULFA

“The ULFA till now has been serving the interests of the ISI and anti-India forces with their top leaders sheltered in Bangladesh… the civil society should interevene and force them (ULFA) to come for negotiations,” Gogoi said.

Condemning the recent incidents of bomb blasts, the CM directly accused the ULFA for being responsible as there is a “plan to create chaos and show their presence.” Launching a scathing attack on the banned outfit, the chief minister said “this (violence) is the only way they have to show their presence” as the ULFA is now fast losing ground.

Rejecting the demand for sovereignty, Gogoi said the outfit “wanted to make Assam a land of rich people where the ordinary individuals will stay as second class citizens…

this we will never allow to happen.” Welcoming the recent annoucement of ceasefire by one battalion of the ULFA, the chief minister said, “We want more and more cadres of the outfit to come out for negotiations.” He said since 1990 more than 13,000 ULFA cadres had surrendered and now their strength is only 1,500.

“Our doors are still open and they (ULFA) should sit for talks,” he said.

On the country’s nuclear deal, the chief minister said, “I supported it wholeheartedly. Even during Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to the state we had conveyed our support to the deal.” He said his government would publish a white paper on the “so-called” developmental works taken up by the erstwhile NDA and AGP regimes.

This would be compared to what development had taken place during the UPA and Congress led governments in the centre and state, he said.

On the alleged involvement of former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the multi crore LOC scandal, Gogoi said the state Assembly would soon pass a resolution asking the CBI to reopen the case.