Guwahati, Sep 22 AICC in-charge of Assam Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday said that the attack on the Congress convoy in Samaguri was a manifestation of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s panic over losing the October 6 Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll.
Addressing a poll campaign rally at Laharighat, Baghel said the BJP has already conceded defeat and is trying to intimidate the Congress into retreating from the campaign.
“The attack on our convoy yesterday was nothing but a manifestation of Sarma’s panic. They have already conceded defeat and are desperately trying to intimidate us into retreating indoors,” the former Chhattisgarh chief minister said.
“He (Sarma) should know by now that we cannot be frightened. It was the Congress that drove the British colonialists out of this nation. What standing do the BJP and RSS have before us? We will not fear; we will fight and we will win,” Baghel said,
BJP and Congress workers clashed during campaigning for the Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election on Monday in the Samaguri assembly segment when a Congress procession, led by the party’s state president Gaurav Gogoi, was on its way to a public meeting at Larirmukh.
The window glass of two Congress vehicles was broken, and some journalists also sustained minor injuries in the stone-pelting.
Baghel also alleged that the BJP’s so-called double-engine government had failed completely during the recent devastating floods in Upper Assam.
The BJP government had failed to provide adequate relief or assistance to the affected people, the Congress leader claimed.
He further attacked the BJP over the hike in prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, sugar, and edible oil, while alleging that unemployed youth study hard throughout the year only to have question papers leaked and examinations cancelled.
Assam Pradesh Congress President Gaurav Gogoi accused the BJP of intimidating and enticing Congress workers and panchayat representatives.
He alleged that the BJP’s candidate Devashsis Sharma is merely an agent of the chief minister’s communal eviction politics.
Taking a dig at the “covert understanding” between the chief minister and AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal, Gogoi said, “People dial 108 for an ambulance when someone falls sick. Whenever Himanta Biswa Sarma falls politically ill, he dials 108 and phones Maulana Badruddin Ajmal.”
He asserted that Congress has consistently stood by the people in times of trial—introducing photo-affixed voter identity cards, fighting in the Supreme Court for women’s panchayat linkage certificates during the NRC process, and establishing legal aid camps for D-voters.
He appealed to the electorate to ensure a resounding victory for the Congress in Nagaon to strengthen the hands of Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress leaders were campaigning for the party’s candidate and former MLA Sibamoni Bora, who is pitted against BJP’s Sharma and AIUDF’S Ajmal.
Polling will be held on October 6 and counting on April 9.
The bypoll was necessitated after sitting Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the Lok Sabha seat and the party to contest the Assembly elections from Dispur as a BJP candidate.
(PTI News)
