Assam Congress president rushes to Delhi, to skip CID summon tomorrow

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Borah is set to miss the CID summon tomorrow as he left for New Delhi today. 

Congress party sources today stated that Borah got a call from the Congress headquarters in New Delhi after which he left for New Delhi. Because of this Borah would not be able to appear before the CID  with regards to the summon which was served to him on February 26. 

It is not yet clear as to what is the reason behind the sudden call to the Assam Congress president. However speculations are arife that it is due to finalising the list of candidates in Assam for the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Borah received the CID summon on February 26 where he was directed to appear before the authorities on March 2. The summon stated that Borah has to appear the CID office at 11:30 am on March 2. The summon was issued for Borah with regards to the chaos that ensued at Khanapara near Guwahati during the course of Rahul Gandh's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. 

Noteworthy is that a First Information Report (FIR) in the case mentioned the names of Rahul Gandhi, along with other senior Congress leaders such as KC Venugopal, Jitendra Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Srinivas BV, Kanhaiyya Kumar, Gaurav Gogoi, Bhupen Kumar Borah, and Debabrata Saikia.

Earlier, the Assam Police issued summons to Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar and another party leader for questioning in connection with the case. Summons were also issued to Guwahati City Congress general secretary Ramen Kumar Sarma, who were asked to appear before the police at 11.30 am on February 23.

Noteworthy is that prior to this Borah has appeared twice before Jorhat Police where he was questioned in connection with a case registered against him for allegedly diverting the route and creating chaos during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi. 

On January 23, Congress workers in the presence of Gandhi and other leaders broke police barricades, which were put up after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma threatened to file an FIR if the Yatra attempted to enter the main Guwahati city.

The party workers clashed with police, who used mild lathicharge to control the situation but failed to protect the barricades. Several police personnel and party workers were injured in the scuffle.

After dismantling the barrier, the Congress workers, however, did not proceed further, with Gandhi stating that they "can break barricades, but will not break the law" and moved along its permitted route along NH-27 in Guwahati.

This episode prompted the chief minister to term the action as "naxalite" style and instructed police to register a case. Guwahati Police lodged a suo motu FIR against Gandhi and other leaders for "wanton acts of violence".

Sarma even announced that the "instigators", including Gandhi, would be arrested after the Lok Sabha polls as he did not want to "politicise" the issue before the general elections.