Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Jorhat Lok Sabha Election

CM rushed to Jorhat after PM goes to Delhi

: From our Correspondent
JORHAT, April 20: Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi rushed to his home district, Jorhat, after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned to Delhi from Guwahati, to campaign for Congress candidate BK Handique here yesterday. Gogoi addressed two meetings– one at Titabar and the other at the AT Road truck stand in the district and this is the fourth time that the Chief Minister has descended here to campaign for Handique, who is hoping to win the seat.

The Chief Minister plunged directly into trying to counter the damage done by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi here, recently. Referring to Modi’s allegation that, Gujarat was in a far better state than Asom, Gogoi said that this was totally false and that Modi was actually tottering in his home state. A case in point was the development of Guwahati in comparison to Ahmedabad, Gogoi said.

In regard to the water problem, Gogoi said that Rajasthan too faced the same problem.
Flaying the BJP for playing the Hindutva card during election time, Gogoi said this was all hypocrisy as was evident from the little they did for Asom when they came to power in the Centre.

The AGP was similarly lambasted. ‘‘This party likes to play the regional card with special focus on Asomiyas, ignoring all the other communities like– Marwaris, Bengalis and Biharis residing in this state’’, Gogoi said.

The Chief Minister further pointed out that Prafulla Mahanta liked to boast that he was like the younger brother of Vajpayee, but he could only get Rs 22,000 crore as central funds for development, whereas although Manmohan Singh and he did not have such a deep relationship, he had managed to get Rs 53,000 crore. ‘‘Moreover, during the AGP’s tenure the state coffers had gone into the red and people were not getting their pay, neither was there any development’’, he further said.

Gogoi pointed out that, the increase in Asom’s land value was a very positive sign and was an indication that people had accepted this region as conducive for trade with South-East Asian countries. ‘‘The increased land value also indicated the rise in per capita income of the people’’, he said.

Jorhat Congress MLA Rana Goswami, who accompanied him, gave a glowing account of the development of Jorhat, especially roads, under the Congress government. More than 2,000 people attended the rally at the truck stand. THE SENTINEL

No comments: