Jorhat: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio held a meeting on Sunday and discussed several issues affecting the two Northeastern states.
Though officials were tightlipped about the issues discussed in the closed-door meeting, sources said the duo spoke only on some “personal and political issues”.
Sarma, who tweeted to inform about the meeting at Circuit House where the press was not allowed, also did not share details of the discussion that lasted for about 15 minutes only. It was followed by breakfast.
“Glad to have met HCM Nagaland Sri @Neiphiu_Rio at Jorhat today, along with MP Sri @KamakhyaTasa. Discussed several issues of mutual interest in order to strengthen the age-old ties & bonhomie b/w (between) two states.
“We strive towards building an ever united & stronger #NorthEast,” Sarma tweeted.
An official statement from the Assam Chief Minister’s Public Relations Cell gave details of his other programmes in Jorhat district, but was silent about the particulars of the meeting between Sarma and Rio.
“Earlier in the morning, the Chief Minister (Sarma) held a meeting with his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio at Jorhat Circuit House. Both the Chief Ministers discussed several issues of mutual interest,” it said.
A senior official said that the meeting was closed-door and nobody from the government was present in it.
“They discussed something personal, and some political issues. The inter-state border dispute between Assam and Nagaland was not discussed in it. No official issue was deliberated upon in the brief meeting,” he added.
The meeting assumed significance after Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on November 16 for the first time ever jointly visited a disputed area between the two states and interacted with the local people.
Addressing a joint press conference in Guwahati, Sarma and Sangma had said that Assam and Meghalaya are targeting to settle their longstanding inter-state border disputes at six locations out of 12 by the end of this year.
Assam shares a 512.1-km border with Nagaland, with whom it has the longest border dispute that began since the creation of the state in 1963.