‘Christmas in Mizoram will be under BJP rule’
Amit Shah accuses CM of graft; Cong hits back
GUWAHATI:Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said on Wednesday that Mizoram will celebrate Christmas under a BJP government.
Kicking off the party’s campaign at Aizawl’s R Dengthuama Indoor Stadium, Shah said in an address to booth-level BJP workers in the state, “Seeing all the workers in this packed hall, I am confident that the next government will be of the BJP. After the counting of votes in Mizoram, it will be the 20th state government under the leadership of Narendra Modi.” Shah added that seven out of eight states in the Northeast already have a North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) government led by the BJP.
Christian-majority Mizoram, the last citadel of the Congress in the Northeast, will go to the polls on November 28. The BJP does not have any legislator in the 40-member Assembly.
“In Nagaland, Meghalaya, wherever BJP contested, it won,” Shah said, adding that BJP was committed to protecting the culture and development of the region.
Shah, who also inaugurated the state BJP headquarters, said the BJP will contest all the 40 seats on its own. “We will not go with the Congress or the Mizo National Front (MNF). We will fight all seats on the basis of the strength of our workers,” he said. The BJP president also inducted senior Congress leader BD Chakma into the party. In his address, Shah alleged that ~42,972 crore in developmental aid given to the state didn’t reach the people. “Earlier, when Congress was at the Centre and Mizoram, the state received only ~19,974 crore in the 13th Finance Commission. After the BJP came to power in the centre, allocation was doubled to ~42,972 crore. The ~42,972 crore Modi gave has gone as an offering to corruption because of the corrupt state government,” he said. Attacking the New Land Use Policy (NLUP) and the New Economic Development Policy (NEDP) launched by chief minister Lal Thanhawla , Shah said, “NLUP is the centre of corruption. To coverup the failures of the NLUP, the state government has come up with NEDP which is yet another way of corruption. The solution for every problem is there in the 129 schemes launched by the Narendra Modi government. “Chief minister Lal Thanhawla, in a recent conversation with HT, said the BJP has no chance of coming to power in Mizoram. “Amit Shah is levelling baseless allegations... A few months back, when the President of India visited, he appreciated Mizoram,” said Lal Malsawma, president, Youth Congress’s Mizoram unit. “The Union ministers who visit appreciate the policies.
The North Eastern Council wrote to all states that they should have a policy like New Economic Development Policy that we have in Mizoram. “We shall see how many seats BJP manages to win,” said Malsawma.