New Delhi, Feb 10: Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his third consecutive visit after elections in Assam were announced, will visit the house of Ananta Rai, a self-proclaimed king of the Koch Rajbongshi family in Chirang district of Bodoland Territorial Region of western Assam on Thursday (February 11).
The meeting is strategically important as Rai represents the Koch people who are spread across the Northern part of West Bengal and western Assam, both the states that will go for elections this summer.
The Cooch Behar, that Ananta Rai claims to be king of, spreads over both West Bengal and Assam and he heads Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association (GCPA), a faction that advocates separate state or territory for Koch Rajbongshi in West Bengal. GCPA had bestowed Rai the title of Maharaja in 1998.
“The (Union) Home Minister had invited me to his residence in Delhi on January 30 or 31 on his own interest and had told me he would like to meet my family and my home. We had discussed politics then and we are hopeful there will be more political discussion in his ensuing visit,” Rai said.
He said that he and GCPA, though holds no political grudges against the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal, had always been a supporter of the NDA government.
“We will support the NDA in both Assam and West Bengal elections. We are also anxious to know what the Home Minister would offer the Koch Rajbongshi people residing in both the states,” Rai, who claims to have over 18.5 lakh followers.
Meanwhile, security arrangements have been tightened up at Rai’s residence with sniffer dogs making rounds and police personnel deputed at his residence.
