GUWAHATI: BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday criticised the Congress for its alleged tacit understanding with minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) to secure the political future of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s son Gaurav.
“Tarun Gogoi was forced to fall at the feet of (Lok Sabha member and AIUDF chief) Maulana Badruddin Ajmal to secure his son’s political future,” Shah said at a rally in Gaurav’s constituency Kaliabor in Central Assam.
He was campaigning for Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate Mani Madhav Mahanta. BJP, AGP and Bodoland People’s Front have stitched a pre-poll alliance. The Kaliabor seat has been held by the family of Gogoi since 1991. Gogoi and his brother Dip were elected from here several times. Last election, Dip had made way for Gaurav and he successfully contested it.
The AIUDF has fielded candidates in only three of Assam’s 14 seats, prompting the BJP to allege that the Congress forged an “unholy alliance” with the minority-based party.
“The alliance was done to protect the interest of Gogoiji’s son,” Shah said. The AIUDF earlier said its decision to contest in three seats was to thwart the division of “secular” votes.
In his speech, the BJP president repeated what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged on the issue of Bangladeshi immigrants ahead of 2014 elections.
“We’ll drive away the infiltrators if you make Modiji the PM again. The Congress had nurtured the illegal immigrants in Kaziranga but the BJP evicted them. We will drive out the infiltrators from the state after May 26,” he asserted.
Taking potshots at the Congress, Shah said the UPA government had given Rs.50,000 crore development funds to Assam compared to the Modi government’s Rs.3 lakh crore in five years.
“Manmohan Singh represented Assam in the Parliament for 20 years and during ten of these, he was the PM. In five years, the BJP did much more for Assam than what he had done in 20 years,” Shah said.
Batting for Modi as PM again, he said, “The Congress has no PM candidate and no policies. They cannot bring prosperity to the country and Assam. Only Modiji can protect the country. Only he can give befitting reply to the terrorists and Pakistan”.
Later, Shah campaigned for BJP’s Jorhat candidate Tapan Kumar Gogoi who is a minister.