GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertakes a daylong visit to Assam Friday amid a shutdown called by the anti-talks faction of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which also carried out two blasts in the state a day earlier.
Governor J.B. Patnaik and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will receive Manmohan Singh at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) airport.
Sources said the prime minister will be flown to Nehru Stadium by helicopter from where he would visit the B. Barooah Cancer Institute at 11.30 a.m. Union minister Paban Singh Ghatowar will receive him there.
"The prime minister will then head for the Dispur parade ground to inaugurate the platinum jubilee celebration of the Assam assembly," a source said adding he would leave for Raj Bhavan from there.
Manmohan Singh is likely to have his lunch at Raj Bhavan. He will also meet Chief Minister Gogoi and his cabinet colleagues at Raj Bhavan between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. before flying back to LGBI airport, from where he will return to Delhi, the sources said.
The ULFA has called a 12-hour Assam bandh from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
It had carried out two blasts at Jorhat and Sivsagar in upper Assam Thursday night to protest the prime minister's visit, police said. The explosions are suspected to have been carried out by the ULFA faction that is opposed to peace talks with the government.