Bodoland MP takes demand for statehood to PM

New Delhi: Bodoland People's Front MP Biswajit Daimary on Monday said he has raised the demand for carving a separate state of Bodoland out of Assam and appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about it.

Daimary, who met the prime minister in the Rajya Sabha following a brief adjournment of the house, said he urged Manmohan Singh "to send two union ministers" to talk to people of the region in the wake of their renewed agitation following the UPA's decision to split Andhra Pradesh and create a separate state of Telangana.

Protests against the formation of Bodoland. AFP.

"The way Telangana has been given statehood, Bodoland should also be made a separate state," Daimary told IANS.

Daimary, who is the only MP of the BPF in the Rajya Sabha, said the government should at least talk to people and tell them about its thinking on the demand for a separate Bodoland state.

"I told him that you at least send two ministers to talk to people and tell them what the central government was thinking," Daimary told IANS.

The Assam MP said the prime minister told him that he will discuss his demand.

Daimary was among the members who went near the chairman's podium during question hour to press their demand related to creation of new states. The house witnessed two adjournments during question hour.

The BPF is the ruling party in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District, with its president Hagrama Mohilary as the chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council.

IANS