Guwahati, March 1 (IANS): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived here on Monday to campaign for the party in Assam, where the Congress-led seven-party alliance will take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led three-party coalition.
Priyanka soon after her arrival offered prayers at the famous Kamakhya Devi Temple, which was rebuilt in 1565 by Koch king Naranarayana and is one of the 51 holy and venerated sites in India.
Assam Congress Media Department Chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma said that during her Assam tour, Priyanka would hold interactions with party office bearers and diverse groups of people of the poll-bound Assam and address public meetings in Tezpur on Tuesday.
The Congress leader would launch a statewide campaign for the unemployed youths and hold interaction with tea garden women workers and Self-Help Group members.
Former Congress President and Lok Sabha member Rahul Gandhi on February 14 visited the state and addressed a public gathering in eastern Assam’s Sivasagar.
The Congress, which was in power in the state for 15 years (2001-2016) until the BJP-led alliance came to power in Assam in 2016, had formed the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) with three Left parties — CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML) — as well as the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Anchalik Gana Morcha, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), three regional parties having a political base among the Muslims and indigenous people, respectively.
The BPF on Sunday joined the Congress-led grand alliance a day after snapping its ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP, after the Bodoland Territorial Council polls in December last year, had forged an alliance with new ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) after discarding incumbent partner BPF.
The BJP has decided to fight the polls in western Assam’s tribal dominated Bodoland area in alliance with new ally UPPL besides Asom Gana Parishad.
The elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly will be held in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6. The results will be declared on May 2
BJP keeps mum on implementing CAA in Assam
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday claimed that BJP leaders talk about implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in various parts of the country, but lack the courage to mention it in Assam.
Assam witnessed violent protests against the CAA in 2019 and five persons lost their lives.
The grand alliance of the Congress and six other parties will form the government in Assam after the election as people are fed up with the false promises made by the BJP, she said.
“The BJP makes tall promises before elections but during the next five years, they do nothing to fulfil them and people have realised it,” the Congress leader told reporters after addressing a meeting of party workers here.
BJP leaders move around the country talking about implementing the CAA but are silent about it when they come to Assam, Gandhi said.
“They lack the courage to mention it in the state and people of Assam should never allow them to even talk about it, let alone implement it,” she said.
The objective of the CAA is to grant Indian citizenship to people of minority communities Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who had come to India till December 31, 2014 due to religious persecution in these countries.
