Dear reader,
In a jolt to the already beleaguered Congress in Assam, a four-time MLA of the party jumped ship to join the BJP. Rupjyoti Kurmi tendered his resignation on Friday saying that young leaders were repeatedly sidelined in the grand old party. He is set to join the BJP this week.
Why is this such a blow to Congress?
Still recovering from its defeat in the recent Assam assembly elections, the move spells further doom for the Congress, with its most well-known names switching sides. Kurmi’s mother Rupam Kurmi is a former Congress minister and three-time MLA. Not just that, Kurmi, is a prominent tea tribe leader — this is a community that comprises 17 per cent of the state’s population and a deciding factor in the elections.
As Congress President Ripun Bora put it, Kurmi was an “asset” to Congress and had been among the most vocal leaders against the BJP. It is clear that his sudden departure comes as a surprise to the party top brass.
Rumblings in Tripura
Not just Assam. There were political rumblings in Tripura too. Earlier this week, rumours were rife that a few ‘dissident’ BJP MLAs might move back to Trinamool Congress (TMC). Prominent among them was former health minister and MLA Sudip Roy Barman, who had joined the BJP from the TMC in 2017.
The background?
Having dealt a blow to the BJP in West Bengal, the news is Mamata Banerjee’s TMC is now reaching out to rebels in the faction-ridden Tripura BJP.
Amid these speculations, BJP’s central party leaders landed in Agartala on Wednesday and met senior leaders and MLAs. While the senior leaders claimed that “all issues had been 100 per cent sorted out”, let’s not forget that Barman and six other MLAs had been camping in the national capital last year to meet the party’s national leadership and demand the removal of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
Exams cancelled
Students in Assam and Manipur heaved a collective sigh of relief this week as the state boards announced cancellation of the class 10 and 12 exams. For those in Assam, who have been mounting pressure on the government to scrap the exams in view of the pandemic (they even moved the Supreme Court), the news is welcome, especially after a number of flip flops by the government. A few weeks back, we had profiled four young girls, bringing to light the trials and tribulations of being class 12 students in a pandemic year.
From Mizoram
Zion-a Chana, who was known to be the patriarch of the 'world's largest family', breathed his last in Mizoram last week. Here’s a small video form when we had visited.
Finally…
Jump into the weekend by watching a group of legislators from Nagaland give hope to people amid the pandemic by singing a gospel hymn.
Until next week,
Tora Agarwala
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