Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday dubbed the Lok Sabha polls as a battle between an "honest, hardworking and committed" leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the head of a "corrupt" political party in Rahul Gandhi.
He claimed at a BJP press conference that the Congress president will never become the country's prime minister, however much "he may dream".
Citing the BJP's win in the recent local polls in the north eastern state and also the loss of Congress in Mizoram assembly elections, Sonowal said the region has expressed a vote of no confidence in the Congress which, he alleged, "looted it for 60 years".
No prime minister has done as much for the region as Modi has, he asserted,adding that it will soon become a main centre of business activities in India.
"Rahul Gandhi is president of a corrupt party. He will never be prime minister, however much he may dream, " he said.
Under the Modi government, more bridges have been built than earlier, he said, noting that Modi will also inaugurate the country's largest rail cum road bridge in Assam on December 25.
Since the BJP dispensation came to power in the state in 2016, it has detected 4 lakh bogus cards under the employment guarantee scheme, 2.63 lakh fake ration card, he said, alleging that the previous Congress government used them for corruption.
In the recent zila parishad polls, the BJP won 222 of the total 420 seats against 15 it had won in 2013, he said.
The Congress' tally fell to 147 from 273 earlier.
Asked about the ongoing National Register of Citizens process, which is meant to identify illegal immigrants, he said his government is guided by the Constitution in the exercise.
At the press conference, BJP media head and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni referred to the party's clean sweep of the mayoral elections in Haryana Wednesday and hailed it as a " glorious win".
