From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: The anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) led by its fugitive ‘commander in chief ‘Paresh Barua on Wednesday ‘removed’ Arabinda Rajkhowa as its chairman and ‘appointed’ ‘acting chairman’ Abhijit Asom as its new leader.
“We are confident that under the leadership of the new chairman, the outfit will make great strides and help in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Assam,” anti-talk faction’s publicity in-charge Arunodoy Asom said in a statement e-mailed to media organisations in the state.
“We had made a sincere appeal to Rajkhowa to return to the outfit and give up his alliance with the government forces …but there was no response from his side,” he said. The outfit had fixed July 29, 2012 as a deadline for Rajkhowa to return to the outfit.
Rajkhowa along with several top leaders of the outfit had participated in negotiations with the Centre to bring peace to Assam which was opposed by the anti-talk faction, led by ULFA’s commander-in-chief Paresh Barua.
However, in a sharp reaction to the decision taken by the anti-talks faction, the pro-talks faction of the ULFA led by Arabinda Rajkhowa termed the decision to remove Rajkhowa as ‘in sharp contrast to the provisions of the ULFA’s constitution’.
The Pro-talks faction publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary in an e-mailed statement to the media stated that, “Arabinda Rajkhowa remains the chairman of the ULFA as he enjoys support of over two third members of the outfit till date, a requirement under the provisions of ULFA’s constitution.
There is no person like Abhijit Asom in the ULFA and only a handful of persons can’t decide who will be the chairman of the organisation.”
