Three people have been killed and seven policemen injured in a clash at Naharbari Tea Estate in Sibsagar district of Assam, official sources said. More than 800 tea labourers from other gardens of the district attacked Naharbari Tea Estate on July 10 for non-participation in a bandh called by the Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA) and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh (ACMS) on July 6. A guard of the tea garden was killed in the attack and the mob continued to stone the other inmates and the policemen who arrived at the spot to control the situation. As the situation went beyond control, the police opened fire to disperse the mob killing two protestors on the spot. (Press Trust of India; Guwahati, July 11, 1999)

The NE Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) considers moral background of candidates as one of the basic criteria to finalise its list of nominees for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, said NCP general secretary and convenor of its NE core committee P A Sangma here on Sunday. The NE core committee of the party, which was constituted recently by its all India president Sharad Pawar with SC Sinha as the chairman, PA Sangma as the convenor, Prof BB Dutta as the member secretary and presidents of the eight Pradesh NCP committees (including Sikkim) as ex-officio members, will soon come out with guidelines for the purpose of nominating party candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Sangma, who was addressing a press conference at the Hedayatpur office of the party, said. (Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 12, 1999)

The Nationalist Congress Party received a shot in the arm when all the 11 members of the Meghalaya Congress Legislature Party today formally merged with it. Announcing the merger, the NCP general secretary, PA Sangma, told a press conference here after the first-ever convention of the Meghalaya unit that Robert Kharshiing has been unanimously selected the president of the State unit. The other members will be selected shortly after consulting the district unit, he said claiming that many more former MLAs and district Congress committee members would join the NCP within a couple of days. Sangma said the party had received tremendous response from Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya. However, the response from other States of the north-eastern region could be gauged only after his visit to those States. He will leave for Nagaland tomorrow. Meanwhile, no formal discussion was held till today regarding support of the United Democratic Party for the NCP in the Tura Parliamentary seat from where Sangma was elected for six consecutive terms. In the only other Lok Sabha constituency, Shillong, the two parties would fight independently, Sangma said. (Press Trust of India; Shillong; July 12, 1999)

The North-East Students Coordinating Committee on the Manipuri identity has decided to boycott the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in protest against the decision taken by the Assam and Tripura governments to recognise the Bishnupriya language as 'Bishnupriya Manipuri'. Talking to The Assam Tribune, here the convenor of the co-ordinating committee, Chidananda said that the final decision on the poll boycott will be taken after a joint meeting of the constituents of the committee, All Assam Manipuri Students' Union (AAMSU), All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU) and All Tripura Manipuri Students' Association (ATMSA). A meeting is likely to be convened here at Imphal mid-July, the convenor added. He also said that the recognition of Bishnupriya as 'Bishnupriya Manipuri' is an attack on the fundamental rights envisaged by the Constitution of India to the people of the State, adding that the committee will not remain a silent spectator when our fundamental rights is being violated by the neighbouring States. (Assam Tribune; Imphal; July 13, 1999)

Charan Narzary who contested the last Lok Sabha polls from Kokrajhar constituency as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, has resigned from the party expressing his anguish over the performance of the State party leadership. However, the State BJP leadership here is unperturbed over resignation of Narzary, who lost the last election from Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency. The state BJP vice-president Parbati Goswami told The Assam Tribune that Narzary's resignation from the party was unlikely to have adverse affect on the party's poll prospect. He also informed that Narzary was yet to apply for party ticket to contest the next Lok Sabha polls. (Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 14, 1999)

Approximately 80 per cent of the electorate in Tripura cast their votes to elect 238 gram panchayats, 137 members of panchayat samitis and 39 members of zilla parishads in three districts during the first phase of the three-tier panchayat elections on Friday. The panchayat election commissioner B B Senapati said the polling for the first phase, which covered Dhalai, South Tripura and North Tripura districts, was peaceful. The second phase of polling will be held on July 19. Counting is scheduled to start on July 22. As many as 338 candidates for gram panchayats and 10 for panchayat samitis have already been elected unopposed.(Press Trust of India; Agartala; July 16, 1999)

The Mizoram Assembly Speaker R Lalawia on Friday adjourned the House as Opposition Congress legislators disallowed proceedings after Question Hour. Trouble began when Opposition leader Zakhu Hlychho asked the Speaker to give him a satisfactory reply as to why his resolution proposing donation of one month's salary of all ministers and legislators for the Kargil jawans' fund had been rejected. Pandemonium prevailed when the Speaker's contention that the Legislature cannot fix the amount to be paid by anybody could not satisfy Hlychho who insisted that his resolution was rejected as he belonged to the Opposition. (Press Trust of India; Aizawl; July 16, 1999)

The Tripura Pradesh Congress general secretary Ratan Lal Nath, MLA, has been expelled from the party for six years for questioning the credentials of party president Sonia Gandhi as a Prime Ministerial candidate. The TPCC spokesman Tapan Das said that the decision was conveyed to the state unit by the AICC on Thursday. Nath was not available for comment. (Press Trust of India; Agartala; July 16, 1999)

The state Janata Dal (JD) on Friday expressed its willingness to work jointly with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) without any condition. Disclosing this, NCP spokesman for NE region Advocate Dilip Kumar Hazarika said that the state JD's move came in the wake of JD's central leaders Madhu Dandavate and Bapu Kaldate's move to work jointly with the NCP in Maharashtra recently. Meanwhile, State Lok Shakti has also expressed its willingness to merge with the NCP. However, as the NCP is yet to form its State Committee, the NCP has asked the State Lok Shakti president Bisambar Das to contact the NCP leaders after July 24, the date fixed for the constitution of the Assam State committee of the NCP. (Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 17, 1999)

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has set a deadline of August 9 to complete the process of forming State units in all the North Eastern States. The NCP's agenda for the NE is all set and a draft manifesto for the region is under preparation which will be discussed at a crucial meeting of the Core Committee on July 24 at Guwahati, the NCP's observer and in-charge for NE, BB Dutta told The Assam Tribune here today, on his return from the region. The Core Committee, which is the supreme decision-making body of the party in the region, has been formed with former Assam Chief Minister, SC Sinha as the chairman, former Lok Sabha Speaker and general secretary PA Sangma as vice-chairman and BB Dutta as member secretary. Significantly, following frequent visits to the region both by Sangma and Dutta, the NCP has gauged the mood of the people and indications are that the party is not likely to contest in more than 10 seats in the region. In Assam for instance, the party has decided to contest in only five seats, while in Meghalaya it will contest in Tura, leaving the Shillong seat to the United Democratic Party (UDP). The party is unlikely to contest in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura. (Assam Tribune; New Delhi; July 17, 1999)