‘Cong used policy of divide and rule’
GUWAHATI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Saturday attacked the Congress, stating that the grand old party followed the policy of ‘divide and rule’ while the rightwing party was focused on taking everyone along.
“Congress worked with the policy of divide and rule, while BJP follows ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’. This is why the northeast is marching ahead (now),” he said while addressing a meeting of the party’s booth-level workers in Guwahati.
Shah visited the state capital to take stock of his party’s preparations for the upcoming panchayat polls.
Launching an attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Shah said: “Can he (Rahul) tell us what the Congress did for Assam the 15 years it was in power? ”and added that no work was done for the state even when former prime minister Manmohan Singh became a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam.
“Prime Minister Modi has done justice when it comes to development of Assam. It is growing at a phenomenal pace,” the BJP chief said as he credited the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government with spearheading growth in the north-east and bringing peace to the region
He praised “the jodi” of Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and senior minister
› Congress worked with the policy of divide and rule, while BJP follows ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’. This is why the northeast is marching ahead (now). AMIT SHAH, BJP president
Himanta Biswa Sarma for the “many welfare schemes undertaken by the state government”.
The BJP chief also accused the Congress of stalling Parliament as, according to him, the Opposition did not want any discussions to take place on the BJP government’s “pro-poor schemes”. “If you don’t allow Parliament to function, we will go to the masses,” Shah said.
Setting his party’s target for next year’s general elections, Shah said they will win 21 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the north-east, a significant jump from their current tally of eight seats. “I want to give a target for 2019 polls. We want to win more than 21 seats out of 25 from the north-east,” he said.
Reacting to Shah’s accusations, Pradyut Bordoloi, vicepresident of the Congress’s Assam unit said: “There’s no doubt that Amit Shah is totally drunk on power and disconnected with what’s happening on the ground. Congress is gearing up for 2019 and is poised to give a tough fight. The results will come as a surprise for BJP”.