Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal traded competing claims over development and governance on Wednesday as campaigning intensified for the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll.
Gogoi said Congress was fighting to safeguard the constitutional rights of the people and ensure their inclusive development, while Sonowal claimed only the BJP-led NDA could ensure sustained development in the constituency.
Addressing a campaign rally at Batamari, Gogoi expressed confidence that Congress would retain the seat, which it has held since 2019.
He said constitutional rights, the interests of the people and genuine development remained Congress's priorities and maintained that Nagaon voters would continue to support its candidate, Sibamoni Bora.
The by-election was necessitated after sitting MP Pradyut Bordoloi quit Congress to join the BJP ahead of the Assembly election in April. He is now an MLA.
Congress Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Imran Masood, who also addressed the rally, urged citizens to stand united against the ruling dispensation's “anti-people policies and step forward to defend democracy and the Constitution".
Speaking to reporters later, Masood said a nationwide struggle for justice and constitutional rights was under way and that Nagaon would also be part of it by voting for the Congress candidate.
He asserted that the fight spearheaded by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to safeguard the welfare and dignity of the impoverished, Muslims, minority groups and indigenous communities across India would resonate in the by-election.
Masood claimed that opportunistic forces attempting to solicit votes by stoking communal tensions would be decisively rejected and exposed in the court of the people.
Sonowal, addressing campaign rallies in Morigaon and Batadrawa, said NDA governments at the Centre and in Assam had opened new possibilities for development, enterprise and employment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have both been leading the growth narrative at Delhi and Dispur respectively, the Union minister for Ports, Waterways and Shipping added.
He credited the Sarma-led government with building roads and bridges, attracting industrial investment and creating jobs.
Sonowal said Nagaon was once synonymous with floods, crumbling connectivity and scarce industry, but had been transformed by infrastructure spending under NDA rule.
He cited the Tata group's Rs 27,000-crore semiconductor unit at Jagiroad as the centrepiece of the transformation and urged voters to support BJP candidate Devasish Sharma, who resigned as Nagaon district commissioner earlier this month.
Sonowal said Sharma's tenure in the district would help him serve more efficiently. He criticised Congress, which currently holds the seat, for allegedly engaging in “divisive politics” and accused the opposition party of not being interested in the welfare of its electorate.
Sonowal said the opposition was “abandoning any real engagement with development or the public's basic problems and choosing to chase votes through divisive politics, designed to mislead the electorate”.
He stressed social harmony and coordination among people of all faiths and urged voters to champion politics rooted in welfare and development, while remaining vigilant against “the opposition's corrosive mix of divisive politics and corruption”.
The Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election is scheduled for October 6, with counting of votes on October 9.
(With inputs from PTI)
