Bad weather forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s chopper that was heading to Assam’s riot-hit Kokrajhar district to return to Guwahati on Saturday. The prime minister is expected to hold ameeting in Guwahati before leaving for Kokrajhar later in the day. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday arrived at an airport in Guwahati and immediately left for Assam’s restive district of Kokrajhar to take stock of the situation.
A week of violence in Bodo areas has claimed 45 lives and left an estimated 2.5 lakh people homeless, according to officials.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Governor JB Patnaik and Assam Pradesh Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita also left with the prime minister and Gandhi on the visit to Kokrajhar. Three special helicopters carried the entourage to the violence-hit district.
Manmohan Singh and the United Progressive Alliance chief earlier arrived from Delhi at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport near Guwahati.
The prime minister and Gandhi are expected to reach Kokrajhar around 11.30 am. They will visit some relief camps in the district where the people affected by days of ethnic violence are living.
–PTI