Priyanka rushes after getting late for Assam rally, Himanta Sarma quips 'not new to Cong'

Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Tuesday, took a sarcastic dig at the senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's 'late appearance' at her rally in Tezpur during her 2-day tour of the state. Taking to Twitter, the BJP leader quoted an ANI clipping of Priyanka Gandhi running towards the stage as she got late for her rally. Sarma quipped that it was nothing new as Congress has always been late when it comes to Assam. 

At her rally in Tezpur on Tuesday, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary launched the 'Five Guarantees' campaign and promised that if Congress is elected to power, then it would provide Rs 2,000 every month to homemakers as 'Grihini Samman', and provide free electricity up to 200 units to all households. Gandhi also assured that her party would hike the daily wages of tea garden workers to Rs 365 from the existing Rs 167, and provide five lakh government jobs to youth in the next five years.

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Sporting a traditional 'gamocha,' Gandhi unleashed an attack on the BJP over the CAA and claimed that the people of Assam have been 'cheated' by the saffron party as it had promised them 25 lakh jobs but failed to provide them. "Assam suffered immensely during the lockdown and subsequent floods, but none of the leaders reached out to them with help. They (BJP leaders) had come here during (last) elections and promised 25 lakh jobs. Five years have passed, and they have not been able to create even 80,000 jobs," Gandhi said.

Earlier in the day, during her interactions with women tea garden workers at an estate in Biswanath, she said that the BJP government does not care for the poor, and it has brought the farm laws for the benefit of a few powerful and rich industrialists.

 "More than three lakh farmers are sitting on a dharna, barely four to five kilometres away from where the prime minister stays, over the last two months, but he has not met them yet. "What was the problem in meeting them once, talking to them? If the farmers have a problem with the laws, it should be changed for their well-being. The policies of this government, however, are meant for the rich and powerful and not the common people," she said. 

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Assam Assembly polls

The 15-year tenure of Tarun Gogoi as the Chief Minister of Assam came to an end in the 2016 Assembly polls with BJP winning 86 seats as against 26 seats won by Congress. In a blow for BJP in the lead-up to the upcoming Assembly election, its ally Bodoland People's Front (BPF) decided to join the Congress-led alliance. At present, BPF has 12 MLAs in the 126-member Assam Assembly including three Ministers in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led Cabinet.

Announcing the dates of the upcoming Assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora mentioned that 18.68 crore persons will decide the fate of 824 seats in the aforesaid 4 States and one Union Territory at 2.7 lakh polling stations. 47, 39 and 40 constituencies of Assam will go to the polls on March 27, April 1 and April 6 respectively. While the polling time has been increased by one hour, there will be 33,530 polling stations. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

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