There are inner contradictions and confusion in the Congress over its alliance in Assam, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday, and exuded confidence over the BJP’s victory in the state.
The people of Assam have made up their minds to bring the BJP to power for the second time, he claimed.
“Even the opposition parties are now realising this, which is why eight of them have come together to face the BJP,” Mr. Singh, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), said.
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“There are inner contradictions and confusion in the Congress party over this alliance, and therefore, it is not going to pay them any dividends,” he said.
A grand alliance comprising the Congress, AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) and the RJD has been formed in Assam to contest the election to the 126-member Assembly against the BJP-led NDA.
Polling will be held in 47 seats in Assam on March 27 in the first phase, while 39 and 40 constituencies will go to polls on April 1 and April 6 respectively.
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Mr. Singh said eight opposition parties have come together to form the ‘Mahajot’ alliance because they have conceded that none of them can face the BJP single-handedly.
“People today can see the contrast of the rapid development and restoration of peace that happened in the last seven years,” Mr. Singh said.
Visitors, he said, now feel rejoiced to drive on highways and see the incredible progress being made in laying of rail tracks and building airports in Assam, whereas in the past, the state made news only for insurgency, corruption and misgovernance.
“The BJP has remained connected to the grassroots people of Assam and has the pulse of the ground realities,” Mr. Singh said.
During the successive Congress regimes, he said, a central minister rarely visited Assam, whereas under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not only were the barriers broken but the intermingling was so intimate that not a single day passed when one or another central minister was not touring the region.
Mr. Singh, who is also the BJP’s co-incharge for Assam, said the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) was lying dormant for over six decades, but in the last seven years, its presence was felt in every nook and corner of the region.