Deba Kumar Bora

Jorhat, March 31: Former AGP minister and former press adviser to the chief minister, Deba Kumar Bora, died in a road accident on National Highway 37 at Rangajan near Kaziranga National Park in the wee hours today. He was 56.

The news cast a pall of gloom in the Congress quarters, leaving his well-wishers, especially in his home town here, shocked and grieving. Bora, also a former AASU leader, was on his way to Jorhat from Guwahati to attend a press conference of chief minister Tarun Gogoi, scheduled for 9am today, when the Bolero he was travelling in hit a parked truck.

Bora’s wife Barnali Saikia Bora and his personal security officer Dimbeswar Gohain were injured in the accident and have been admitted to Jorhat Medical College and Hospital. They are currently in the ICU. Hospital superintendent B.P. Das said their condition was stable.

Bora’s younger son, Bikram, however, escaped unhurt.

The injured driver of the vehicle, Ajit Munda, said the Bolero had only the dipper lights on since the headlights were defective. He could not see the parked truck because of poor visibility and rammed into it.

While the Congress campaign for the ensuing Assembly polls was stalled here for the day, the AGP, too, cancelled their morning campaign programmes in the district in deference to a person who had been a “personal friend”.

Bora was the agriculture and irrigation minister in the first AGP government formed in 1985-90 and represented Titabar constituency.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Jorhat MLA Rana Goswami and other Congress functionaries laid wreaths on the body in front of Congress Bhawan here.

Gogoi said he had lost someone who was like a part of his family. Goswami said it was saddening that such an incident had taken place at a time when elections were around the corner.

The AGP condoled the demise of Bora, describing him as an important leader of the Assam Agitation. The party also offered its condolences to the bereaved family.

Bora was the vice-chairman of the state planning board from 1998 to 2001. In 2001, he joined the Congress and was appointed spokesman for the Assam PCC from 2002 to 2005. He was also the press adviser to the chief minister from 2003 till last month.

His body will be cremated after his eldest son, Barman, arrives from Australia.