By IANS
Agartala : Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son, party MP Rahul Gandhi, may not be able to hold road shows in the three poll-bound northeastern states as the home ministry has advised against it in view of security threats.
“The home ministry has advised against the proposed ‘road show’ apprehending militants’ attack or other kind of extremist-related threat in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland,” Tapas Dey, a Tripura Congress spokesman, said Saturday.
Home ministry officials could not be immediately contacted for comment.
Tripura will go to assembly polls Feb 23, followed by Meghalaya March 3 and Nagaland March 5. The counting of votes will be held for Tripura and Meghalaya March 7 and for Nagaland March 8.
Dey added: “Our leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and a host of others are scheduled to take part in the campaign for the Congress and its poll partners in these three northeastern states.”
Dey demanded appropriate security measures so that the road show can be organised to boost the party’s campaign in the three militancy-ridden states.
The Congress had organised such road shows in recent assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Director General of Tripura Police K.T.D. Singh also felt that the separatists might step up violence during the campaign in these states.
“We shall take adequate security measures to prevent any kind of untoward incident by the extremists and additional paramilitary troopers would be dispatched by the central government to help the states,” Singh told journalists here.
Meanwhile, the tribal militants in Tripura are reported to be taking away electors’ photo identity cards (EPIC) in some remote areas.
The Election Commission this time has made it mandatory to have the EPIC to cast votes in the three northeastern states.
“We have asked the district police chiefs and district magistrates to take appropriate steps to prevent such menace and the Election Commission is considering taking alternative measures for those voters whose EPICs have been snatched by the underground rebels,” said G.S.G. Ayyangar, chief electoral officer of Tripura.