Appeasement to none and justice for all is BJP’s policy: Assam CM

Guwahati, Nov 24 (IANS): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that the BJP’s policy is “appeasement to none and justice for all” and this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.

Sarma told reporters here, “People across the state are equal to me and this is evident from the distribution of government’s beneficiary schemes. Whether it is the Orunoday or Nijut Moina scheme -- what voters of Jalukbari are getting, people living in Samaguri and other places are receiving the same. There is no discrimination against anybody.”

He also asserted that the result of the Lok Sabha election in the Muslim-dominated centre Karimganj and the by-election in the Samaguri Assembly constituency must be an eye-opener for many people.

“In Karimganj seat, at least 65 per cent of the population belongs to the religious minority community and yet the BJP won this seat in the Lok Sabha polls. Samaguri Assembly constituency has a similar voter pattern and despite that fact, we were successful in winning both these seats. This proves that Muslims have voted for the BJP in large numbers only for the development,” Sarma said.

The Chief Minister further said that pollsters took it wrong that the presence of AIUDF benefits the BJP.

“When AIUDF contests polls, the anti-Congress minority votes shift to the AIUDF. In the Samaguri by-election, since AIUDF was not there, we could easily win this seat with a huge margin,” he added.

Five Assembly seats in Assam -- Dholai, Behali, Samaguri, Bongaigaon, and Sidli went to bypolls as the legislators in these seats were elected to the Lok Sabha in the general elections this year.

Except for Samaguri, other four constituencies were held by BJP and its allies -- Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).

Congress heavyweight and now Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain has been representing the Samaguri seat in the state Assembly since 2001. He fought this year’s Lok Sabha election and defeated three-time MP Badruddin Ajmal in Dhubri. His son Tanzil Hussain was given a Congress ticket to fight polls in Samaguri; however, he lost to BJP’s Diplu Ranjan Sarmah by a margin of more than 26,000 votes.

The BJP has retained two constituencies -- Dholai and Behali with Nihar Ranjan Das and Diganta Ghatowal comfortably winning these two constituencies in the by-election.

Diptimayee Choudhury of AGP won the Bongaigaon seat by a margin of 35,164 votes. Her husband and now a Lok Sabha MP from Barpeta --Phanibhusan Choudhury was a six-time MLA from Bongaigaon seat.

Another ally of the BJP, UPPL also won the by-election in Sidli Assembly constituency defeating his nearest candidate by a difference of 37,016 votes.

Congress fought elections in five seats but failed to win any.