Tension grips Nagaon as AUDF-Congress battle for supremacy

Guwahati, June 10 (UNI) Communal tension gripped Nagaon district today as the Assam United Democratic Front(AUDF) and Congress supporters are gearing up for their battle for supremacy in the Muslim-dominated district.

The Superintendent of Police Krishna Das informed mediapersons here, ''Tension has gripped the entire Nagaon district with security been tightened in and around the area. AUDF supporters have not been allowed to enter the Nagaon town.'' The tension resulted due to prolonged ongoing conflict between the AUDF and Congress as both were trying to emerge as the sole leader of the majority Muslim population in the district.

This morning, police made a preventive arrest of AUDF President Badaruddin Ajmal and MLA Mobarak Ali at Rupahighat to stop them from taking out ''Samguri Chalo'' protest.

The AUDF had given a call of ''Samguri Chalo'' and urged their MLAs, leaders and supporters to converge at Nagaon and then march to neighbouring Samguri.

Samguri is represented by Asom Minister Rockeybull Hussain and he had been engaged in a personal battle with Mr Ajmal to emerge as the undisputed leader of the Muslims.

''We wanted to converge peacefully. We are not Congress. We do not believe in violence. They beat our MLAs at Samguri but we will give them flowers,'' said Mr Ajmal, as his supporters swarmed from neighbouring constituencies like Doboka, Hojai, Lumding and Neelbagan area.

There was tension in Doboka, as police stopped people from travelling to Nagaon.

Police had to resort to lathicharge and fire tear gas cells to disperse the crowd.

The police were apprehending tension as both groups were armed with weapons.

Similarly, hundreds of AUDF supporters were stopped at Tezpur as police was trying to stop the AUDF supporters from converging at Nagaon.

UNI