From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Senior Congressman and former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi has for the second time in two weeks taken digs at the Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party and the Asom Gana Parishad for their “ambiguity” over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) and their “support” to BJP and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
“Meghalaya chief minister, Conrad K Sangma’s stand on CAB is not clear (despite the Meghalaya Cabinet stand against the Bill last year) because his party continues to be under NEDA and continues to support the BJP-led NDA government, which wants to bring the contentious legislation back as was announced by its leader, Amit Shah,” Gogoi told a media conference here on Monday.
Accusing NPP of a “secret understanding” with BJP, the senior Congress leader said, “Conrad Sangma who was given a hero’s welcome here after his stand against CAB (in Delhi), has taken a U-turn now by being with an alliance led by a party that is hell bent on tabling the Bill again. So there must be a secret alliance in this regard which again gives one the impression that NPP has no principle.”
Contesting in almost all the 25 seats in North East even though there is “no base” for NPP will eventually help the BJP by dividing the anti-bill votes, the Congress leader said.
“He (Sangma) could have said that I will support BJP if there is no bill. But he is silent now. It shows that NPP and BJP have a secret unholy alliance,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi, who has time and again accused NPP of being the “B” team of BJP, asserted that Congress will always be firm on its opposition to CAB, whether it was in power or not.
On AGP’s return to NDA after a hiatus of two months over the bill, the three-time former chief minister claimed that the popularity of the regional party is “decreasing”, while all such regional forces across the country are becoming stronger.
“AGP by allying with BJP again before the Lok Sabha elections has only shown how low it has stooped as a regional party in Assam. It has also given the people the impression that it was against them and power hungry.”
“This trend is in sharp contrast to the rest of India where regional parties have grown strong by adhering to their ideologies,” the former chief minister said.
“The AGP is an anti-Assam, power hungry and corrupt. The AGP-BJP alliance means that none of them are confident of winning alone in the state,” he added.
Gogoi said that the Congress party will seek support from all organisations and social groups who are opposed to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“We will seek support from all those opposing the Citizenship Bill. We will welcome the support from AASU, AJYCP, KMSS and others for the interest of Assam and its people,” he said.
“The Congress wants that all anti-BJP and anti-Bill forces unite to defeat the present regime at the Centre,” he said.
“Because of the Congress party, the Central government could not introduce the bill in Rajya Sabha. We stood by the people of Assam. We will never introduce this bill once we come to government,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi also claimed that the Congress will win at least 10 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam.
In 2014, the BJP won seven out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, the Congress and the AIUDF had three MPs each and one member was an Independent. The two BJP allies, BPF and the AGP, had no representation in the Lower House of Parliament. (With inputs from PTI)