Assam Oppn takes advantage

With the second and final phase of polling for the Assembly elections scheduled next Monday, the BJP and AGP cashed in on the veteran Gandhian’s fast-unto-death stir in New Delhi in order to nail down the Congress on the issue of corruption in Assam.

Campaigning for the BJP candidates at Golokganj in Dhubri district in western Assam, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Congress-led UPA government’s reaction to Hazare’s stir for an effective Lokpal Bill reminded him of the emergency like situation similar to that in 1975.

He criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the response of the UPA government, which purportedly indicated that Hazare had been ‘instigated’ into starting the stir.

When Modi was targeting the prime minister in Golokganj, Manmohan Singh was campaigning for the Congress in the neighbouring district of Barpeta. Singh, however, stuck to the script and did not touch upon the issue of Hazare’s fast for the Lokpal Bill, even as he sought a third term for the Congress in the state.

The Congress is eyeing a hat-trick in Assam, but is also facing a challenge from the Opposition which is trying to cash in on allegations of corruption against Tarun Gogoi’s government.

The alleged scams by the Congress government include misappropriation of about Rs 1.25 crore under the Sampoorna Gram Rojgar Yojana and of Rs 60 lakh under the Indira Awas Yojana as well as irregularities in PDS and NREGS.