0
Comment(s)
*
* The moderation of comments is automated and not cleared manually by indianexpress.com.
Congress party Vice President Rahul Gandhi. (Source: Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)
The Assam assembly polls, scheduled for April 2016, would be “worse than Bihar” for the BJP, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said Saturday. He also said there was “no link” between the National Herald issue and GST bill.
“The people of Assam will reject the BJP for several reasons, the most important being its failure to keep promises it made in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. I am confident that people of Assam will elect the Congress for the fourth consecutive term,” he said at a rally at the end of a 7-km padayatra from Barpeta Satra to Medhirtari.
“You should ask them (BJP) what happened to the Rs 15 lakh in each countryman’s account that Modi was supposed to deposit after bringing back black money from abroad. You should ask them why they withdrew special states status for Northeastern states. You should ask them what happened to funds that the UPA government gave to the Northeast. Once you ask them these questions, the BJP leaders will all go back to Delhi,” Rahul said.
Rahul reached Guwahati at 11.40 am and began his padyatra from Vaishnavite Satra in Barpeta town and marched about 7 km to Medhirtari, a Muslim-dominated village, with hundreds of Congress workers following him.
Best of Express Premium
In Guwahati, Rahul said his party is for the GST bill if differences are resolved. “There is no link between National Herald and GST. Congress had brought in the GST. Modiji and Jaitleyji had opposed it,” he said. “GST is important because it makes India less complicated. It removes red tapeism. We are hundred per cent proposers of GST,” he said. At Medhirtari, CM Tarun Gogoi joined Rahul.
“While the Congress believes in uniting people, the BJP divides them. PM Modi has only one card in his pocket, that is to put one Indian against another,” he said. “What happened to the crores of jobs Modi promised during the 2014 polls? Now people laugh at his hollow promises,” he said. Rahul said Gogoi had ended “violence and killings” and “brought back peace” to the state.
State BJP president and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said Rahul Gandhi would not be able to help the Congress in Assam even if he undertakes a 1,000-km padayatra. “The Congress in Assam is a pack of frustrated leaders… The people have made up minds to elect a BJP government.”
(— With PTI inputs)
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
