Gogoi taints Advani with 'secret killing' blood

Guwahati, Oct 1 (UNI) Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today accused BJP leader L K Advani of ''masterminding and executing'' the Assam 'secret killings' through the then AGP government headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

Addressing a press conference here, he accused Mr Advani of knowing every angle of the 'secret killings', which eventually snowballed into a major political storm that swept away the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) from power in 2001 and defeated them in every single election since then.

''Personally I believe that Mr Advani in the know of the whole development. Did he not have access to the IB? Did he not know what was going on in Assam? He had tacit support. Mahanta would not have dared to carry out the killings had he not been backed by Advani covertly. He was the Home Minister then and later the Deputy Prime Minister,'' Mr Gogoi said.

Countering the recent remarks of Mr Advani during his visit to Assam and Meghalaya, Mr Gogoi said the BJP and Mr Advani had always given a clean chit to Mr Mahanta despite knowing about his past deeds.

''In fact when I stopped the secret killings after coming to power Mr Advani as Home Minister accused me of going soft on the ULFA,'' he said, adding the North East was the most neglected region of the country during the NDA rule.

Ridiculing Mr Advani's comments about infrastructure and flood problems of the region, Mr Gogoi asked where was he (Advani) when they were in power four years ago.

On the infiltration issue he said the NDA was insincere and it was due to his personal effort that the boundary issue was again taken up seriously.

The 'secret killings' were extra judicial killings when pro-government militants were used to eliminate hardliners and their families. The incidents shocked the state but eventually it removed the AGP government from power.

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