Guwahati, Oct 05 (IANS): The Congress has issued show-cause notices to two of its MLAs in Assam — Bhaskarjyoti Baruah and Abdul Batin Khandakar — for taking part in the Amrit Kalash Yatra in the state recently.

Baruah is an MLA from the Titabar constituency in Jorhat district, while Khandakar won the North Abhayapuri Assembly seat on the Congress ticket in the previous Assembly polls.

Both the MLAs claimed that the ‘Amrit Kalash Yatra’ was a part of the ‘Meri Maati, Mera Desh’ program, which is a state government initiative, and that is why they participated in it.

The legislators claimed that there was no directive from the Congress party not to attend this campaign. However, Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said on Thursday, “Although there was no directive issued from the party, it is a well-known fact that the ‘Amrit Kalash Yatra’ is an initiative launched by the BJP, and as Opposition MLAs, they should have stayed away from that.”

Baruah was also embroiled in a controversy when he took part in the BJP’s ‘Ashirwad Yatra’ earlier. Notably, as part of the ‘Amrit Kalash Yatra’, soil has been collected from households in villages and municipal wards in the state, and later it will be put into urns on October 26.

At least 270 urns will be sent to the national Capital, and an equal number of urns will be stored in the Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati. It will later be used in the foundation-laying ceremony of Assam’s largest proposed university in Gohpur.