Jaipur (PTI): Three members of a family were killed after a trailer truck collided with their tempo on a national highway in Rajasthan's Nagaur district on Friday, police said.

The accident occurred near the Inana bypass on National Highway 58 (Bikaner-Ajmer) in the Marwar-Mundwa area.

The victims were identified as Chuka (46), her son Rustam (26) and daughter-in-law Gulshan (24), all residents of Mundwa.

According to police, Rustam had taken his ailing mother to the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Nagaur for treatment. The family was returning home in a tempo when the accident took place.

Station House Officer Suresh Chaudhary said the tempo was being driven by Rustam. The trailer truck, while attempting to overtake another vehicle, came onto the wrong side of the road near a petrol pump on the Inana bypass and hit the tempo.

All three occupants of the tempo died on the spot, the officer said.

The truck driver fled the scene after the accident. A search is on for him, police said.

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Guwahati (PTI): In a bid to win the Assam Assembly elections for the third time in a row, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday advised the state BJP brass to fight on twin planks: development and a secure state.

Shah, who wound up a two-day visit to Assam, held a nearly two-hour-long meeting with senior leaders of the BJP state unit at the party headquarters here, with a focus on discussing strategy for the state elections, expected in March-April.

Briefing reporters after the closed-door meeting, BJP Assam president Dilip Saikia said, "Development and a secure Assam will be our twin electoral planks."

He also said that Shah, known for his expertise in electoral politics, has offered valuable suggestions, and based on it, an action plan to retain power in the state will be formulated soon.

“Discussions were held in detail on our organisational and political calendars. Shah ji offered some very valuable suggestions, and we will implement those at the earliest…We will share more details on the action plan soon,” Saikia said.

He further said that the Union minister exhorted the state party leadership to ensure that not only do they secure a ‘massive landslide victory’ but also bag more seats than in the previous election.

The BJP currently leads a coalition government in Assam with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), while the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) has also extended support.

In the 126-member Assembly, the BJP now has 64 legislators, while its allies AGP, UPPL and BPF have nine, seven and three memnbers, respectively. In the opposition camp, the Congress’ strength is 26, while AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) one. There is an Independent legislator also, belonging to Raijor Dal.

Saikia said that the party will continue to contest the state polls in coalition with its NDA allies, which was also favoured by Shah.

Dismissing reports of chinks in the ruling coalition, the Lok Sabha MP said, “As far as the NDA is concerned, we are united in Assam. There could be discussions about some issues on individual party forums.”

The saffron party has maintained that its alliance with the regional parties will continue, and formalities like seat-sharing arrangements are being worked out.

Shah, who was on his second visit to the state within a month, attended two other events in Dibrugarh and Dheamji earlier in the day. He left for West Bengal after the meeting at the Guwahati state party headquarters.