SILCHAR/KARIMGANJ: Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday claimed that the assembly election in Assam is a struggle to save the people of the state from the "misrule" of the BJP.
The BJP government never stood by the people during the hour of crisis, Pilot alleged while addressing two election meetings at Silchar and Karimganj in Barak Valley region.
"We are not fighting to come to power, but to save the people of Assam from the misrule of the BJP," he said.
The BJP is dividing people on religious lines and they need to remain united in Assam and India, the former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan said.
"When people were in crisis during the demonetisation, GST and lockdown, the BJP government was nowhere to be seen. So, it is time that we remove the party from power," he added.
The Congress will form the next government in Assam, Pilot asserted.
"In five years, the BJP gave CAA, NRC, autocracy, inflation and communalism, but not jobs. The biggest challenge today in front of the country and Assam is unemployment. The Congress has guaranteed that it will give five lakh government jobs (in five years)," he said.
The Congress, once voted to power, will also implement 50 per cent reservation for women in all government jobs, Pilot said.
In an apparent reference to rumours of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma acting as rival power centres in the outgoing government, he said, "In Assam, nobody knows who is the CM.
Is he the person who took the oath or the one who wants to be the CM?" The BJP has not announced its chief ministerial candidate before the polls and said that a decision in this regard will be taken by its Parliamentary Board at the time of forming the next government.
Pilot along with All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev also led a procession in Karimganj town in support of Congress candidates.