Guwahati, Nov 2: Assam chief minister and North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convener, Himanta Biswa Sarma has observed that the triumph of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 10 by-poll seats in the Northeast was indicative of the faith and trust the people of Northeast in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and visionary policies.
“The BJP-led alliance has not only swept the polls in all the five seats in Assam… But our alliance partners or NEDA constituent partners (NPP and UDP) have won all the three seats in Meghalaya; our partner (NDPP) has one seat in Nagaland uncontested while MNF has also won a seat in Mizoram. So, in a way, the people of Northeast have once again reposed their faith in the Prime Minister’s leadership and visionary policies,” Sarma said, while addressing mediapersons at the state BJP office here on Tuesday evening.
Elaborating on the unprecedented heavy-margin wins in all the bypoll seats, the chief minister said, “This electoral mandate is not a normal victory because in every seat the ruling alliance candidates won by heavy margins (as high as 57,000 votes in Tamulpur)…never seen in general elections and unprecedented in the political history of some constituencies.”
“So, this landslide triumph is a victory for the Prime Minister’s development initiatives for the state of Assam. I would like to offer my deep gratitude to the people of Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and the national BJP president J.P Nadda for this resounding victory,” he said.
The chief minister further said that even if the Congress would have allied with Raijor Dal, the ruling alliance would have secured an equally high margin.
‘Welcome change’
Sarma also said that a seat like Bhabanipur, where the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has won three consecutive terms since 2006, has seen a “welcome change”.
“For the first time, a BJP candidate has won in Bhabanipur. It was a matter of shame for the Assamese community that despite being the home constituency of the Assam Agitation’s first martyr, Khargeswar Talukdar, Bhabanipur has had legislators from AIUDF between 2006 and 2021. But this trend has changed now,” he said.
The chief minister said that the party would always adhere to its development agenda as against appeasement politics.
“In fact, people belonging to a particular (minority) community have, for the first time, voted in favour of the BJP and UPPL in seats such as Bhabanipur, Tamulpur and Gossaigaon owing to the development push of the ruling alliance,” he said.