Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma held an emergency cabinet meeting in Assam Bhavan in the national capital on Saturday following which he announced that he has given his nod to the merger of four districts and said that it was being done in the "interest of the state".
Sarma said that Hojai will be merged with the Nagaon district, Tamulpur will come under the Baksa district, Bajali to be merged with the Barpeta district, and Biswanath district is to be merged with the Sonitpur district. Asked about the cabinet meeting, Sarma said that "the Election Commission of India (ECI) has now come up with a notification according to which the delimitation process will begin from January 1 and the ECI has directed the government not to create any new administrative unit during the delimitation process. So, we had to take this decision now."
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Speaking to ETV Bharat regarding the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supremo and Lok Sabha MP Maulana Badaruddin seeking the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu to stop the eviction drives in Assam during winter, Sarma said, "I am also against this idea of eviction but as a CM, I have to take these stringent measures to stop the illegal encroachments of land."
"We are doing the eviction as per the apex court and the Guwahati High Court's order and we are not doing anything illegal. This eviction is being done in a legal manner. People's land, forest areas, and the land of '17 Mandirs' have been encroached upon illegally, so we had to take such harsh measures. AIUDF MP is free to make such statements and if I receive any order or letter from the President that this eviction should be stopped giving us the assurance that this will not amount to contempt of court, then we will comply with it," he added.
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's statement that BJP/RSS is his guru, the Assam CM said, "Then he (Rahul Gandhi) should go to Nagpur. He is welcome there. I want to tell him that he should not consider RSS and BJP as his guru, but the flag of 'Bharat Mata'.
