The ruling Congress in Assam on Wednesday denied that its members had links with the ULFA or any other insurgent group or allowed them to use their mobile phones.
GUWAHATI: The ruling Congress in Assam on Wednesday denied that its members had links with the ULFA or any other insurgent group or allowed them to use their mobile phones.
Reacting to media reports that some cellphones allotted in the name of certain Assam Pradesh Congress Committee members are being used by militants, including those of the banned ULFA, state party president Bhubaneswar Kalita said BSNL's guidelines for issuing mobile phone connections down the years were "not foolproof and had several loopholes".
"According to the media reports, certain Congress members applied for mobile connections with BSNL giving their residential address as Rajiv Bhavan...Rajiv Bhavan is the APCC headquarters of Assam and not a residence...there are more than two lakh APCC members, but none of them can claim to have their residence here," he told PTI.
Kalita said one mobile phone number mentioned in the media reports as allegedly being used by rebels belonged to Assam Pradesh Youth Congress vice-president Amal Patowary. "It is totally wrong. Patowary has been using the connection for long," he said.
He, however, said an "internal inquiry" has been ordered under senior state Congress vice-president Joy Kumar Jain to ascertain the truth.
Kalita called on BSNL authorities to tighten their guidelines and properly verify addresses before issuing mobile connections.
State Congress spokesman Mehdi Alam Bora said, "There is no question of any possible link between Congress members and it is only BSNL authorities who have to verify the documents before issuing a connection."
Refusing to comment on the media reports, Bora said, "There has been instances when cell phone applications from genuine persons have been rejected without any logic."
BSNL officials, when contacted, refused to comment on the authenticity of the reports but said that an inquiry will be made if there are complaints.
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