THE ECONOMIC TIMES, GUWAHATI : As Assam readies for the second phase of polls on Monday, covering 61 constituencies, political parties in the state have been busy in last ditch efforts to woo the electorate in every way. While the Congress has been highlighting the development it has ushered in during its 15-year rule in the insurgency-ravaged state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is playing on the threat of Moulana Badaruddin Ajmal becoming the state’s deputy Chief minister in the event of a Congress-All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) government in the state. “People have witnessed the development our government has brought in the past 15 years. In 2001, the state was in a financial mess and people were scared to go out of their homes after dusk. Now people are roaming around freely and the financial situation has improved to a great extent,” says Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Anjan Dutta. “The violence is now over and it is the Congress government that has brought most of the insurgent outfits to the negotiating table in the last 15 years,” he said, asserting that the party is going to form the government again in the state. “People have seen the BJP government at the Centre in the last two years. If they are so interested in Assam why then has the government curtailed the special category status for Assam and slashed funds under different schemes?” Dutta asked. The APCC president refuted allegations of any understanding with the AIUDF and claimed that it is the BJP which has a tacit understanding with the AIUDF. The saffron party, which had made it big in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Assam by winning seven of the total 14 Lok Sabha seats, has intensified its attack on the ruling Congress party regarding the infiltration from Bangladesh. The BJP has said the party will seal the Indo-Bangladesh border if it comes to power in Assam. The party raised the issue of unemployment of the state and said that in 2001 there were only four lakh unemployed in Assam, which has gone up to 23 lakh now. It said the Congress government has failed to create job opportunities in the state.
