IMPHAL, July 17: The Manipur People's Party (MPP), the oldest regional party in the entire northeastern region has decided to have an alliance with six other parties in the state during the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. A high-level committee meeting of the MPP was also held in this connection on Thursday evening at its party office here. Sources said that the decision was taken following a joint meeting of the party working committee and political affairs committee. Members of the Communist Party of India (CPI-M), Indian National Congress, INC, Janata Dal, RJD and KNA (Kuki National Assembly), also attended the meeting, the sources added. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 18, 1999)

GUWAHATI, July 17: The newly-formed Asom Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP) is not yet decided whether to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election or not. The president-in-chief of the regional political party, Jatindra Kumar Borgohain informed that the party will not be able to take a final decision on the election till the meeting of the party's district representatives is not held. The meeting is likely to be held by August 20 next. The process of constitution of the district party committee will be over by August 15 next. (Staff reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 18, 1999)

GUWAHATI, July 19: Chief election commissioner MS Gill has indirectly rebuffed the state government's demand for holding the elections in Assam in phases on account of floods. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said there were permanent revenue structures of the state government to take care of such natural calamities. (ENS and agencies, The Indian Express; New Delhi; July 20, 1999)

DIBRUGARH, July 18 - Confident of walking away with seven Parliamentary constituencies in the Barak and Brahmaputra valleys of the state, the Assam unit of the BJP has informed the party's central leadership that it would rather go it alone, or at best, make strategic electoral alliances with regional parties other than the AGP'. Disclosing this to this correspondent, the state's senior BJP leader, Nakul Baruah said he expects his party to field winning candidates in Nagaon, Kaliabor, Tezpur, Jorhat and Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituencies. He said the BJP would wrest both the Barak valley seats at this October's mid-term polls. (Staff correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 18, 1999)

IMPHAL, July 19: Hundreds of members belonging to the Manipur Students' Front (MSF) burnt down most of the magazines belonging to various scheduled languages including Hindi, Assamese and Bengali in protest against the recognition of the Bishnupriya language as "Bishnupriya Manipuri" by the Assam Government on April 20 last. The action of the MSF was taken up at various levels. The chief convenor (monitoring cell) of boycott monitoring cell said the covers as well as inside pages of the magazines which included licentious illustrations and pictures were burnt, while the newspapers and audio cassettes published in these scheduled languages are kept in the custody of students and will not be destroyed. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 20, 1999)

NEW DELHI, July 20: Desperate to launch their party under a credible leadership, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is planning to pressurise a reluctant former chief minister Sarat Chandra Sinha to take over the presidentship of the state unit until the elections. The former chief of the Congress (S) which has since merged with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, had rejected the proposal at the Mumbai convention itself, pleading that his age does not permit him to take on such a responsibility, though he would be available to guide the State unit. (Staff correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 21, 1999)

GUWAHATI, July 20 - The All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and the Bodo People's Action Committee (BPAC)-sponsored 12-hour Assam bandh on Tuesday failed to evoke any response except in the Bodo-dominated pockets of the northern bank of river Brahmaputra. According to police, there was no report of any untoward incident. Railway services were normal and all long-distance trains left Guwahati. The bandh was jointly called by ABSU and BPAC to protest the alleged human right violations against the Bodo people. (UNI ; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 21, 1999)

NEW DELHI, July 21: The CPI, an ally of the ruling AGP Party, has decided to contest in two Lok Sabha constituencies of Jorhat and Dhubri, leaving the rest to the regional party, the general secretary of the party, and state flood control Minister Promode Gogoi has said. The party's sitting MLA, Allaudin Sarkar, has been nominated to contest from the Dhubri seat, while Chitra Lata Phukan, Principal of Jaji College, has been selected to contest from the Jorhat seat Indications here are that the Silchar seat will be given to UPPA and state irrigation minister, Abdul Muhib Mazumdar, is going to be the alliance's candidate. (Staff correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 22, 1999)

KOHIMA, July 22- The Nagaland unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was formally constituted on Wednesday with former Assembly Speaker KV Keditsu as president and former Congress leader K Zhimomi as general secretary. The state executive committee of the NCP was formed after the first meeting, Zhimomi, who is spokesman of the state unit, said. The meeting resolved to field candidates in the region in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 23, 1999)

SHILLONG, July 22: The Meghalaya chief minister BB Lyngdoh's move to induct the Speaker and ruling United Democratic Party (UDP) president, EK Mawlong, as the second deputy Chief Minister was scuttled on Thursday on technical grounds. Mawlong told The Assam Tribune that under the Article 169 of the Indian Constitution a Speaker can submit resignation only to the deputy Speaker of the House. "Since there is no deputy Speaker in the Meghalaya House at present and I as the custodian of the House cannot break the law," he said. The post fell vacant following the induction of the deputy Speaker RL Tariang into the Lyngdoh Ministry as a Minister of State recently. (Special Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 23, 1999)

ITANAGAR, July 22: The Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Mukut Mithi has indicated that he might recommend holding of Assembly election in the State along with the Lok Sabha polls scheduled on October 1. Giving the indication during an informal chat with reporters here on Wednesday, Mithi said the process for holding simultaneous elections might start after the one-day Assembly session tomorrow. "Though the five-year term of the Assembly expires in March next, there should not be any justification for holding polls twice within six months," he said. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; July 23, 1999)

AGARTALA, July 23: The ruling Left Front in Tripura has landed in a crisis following an assault on an RSP minister allegedly by CPI(M) activists. Both the CPI(M) and its alliance partners are locked in a rift over the incident which has jolted the state's political circles. The state's food minister and senior RSP leader Gopal Das was assaulted on Wednesday, the last day of the three-tier panchayat polls at a polling centre in South Tripura district. (Syed Sajjad Ali; The Hindustan Times; New Delhi; July 24, 1999)