Guwahati, April 21: The BJP today warned Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that a change of government in Delhi could reopen investigation into cases which he had “swept under the carpet”.
Reacting to Sarma’s diatribe against Narendra Modi, BJP national vice-president S.S. Ahluwalia today said Sarma was attacking Modi since he was worried about the kind of investigation he would face if the BJP came to power.
Asked about the cases he was referring to, Ahluwalia avoided a direct reply saying, “There are lots of cases, which have been swept under the carpet. You will know when the time comes.”
“There had been CAG reports on irregularities in Sarma’s departments. This will remind him from where he had started and where he landed,” said the BJP leader.
In a poll rally in Tezpur recently, Sarma called Modi a “terrorist” and said blood of Muslims flows through the water pipes in Gujarat.
The Election Commission had showcaused Sarma for his comments after the BJP filed a complaint.
Ahluwalia alleged that there was a secret understanding between the Congress, the AGP and the AIUDF to divide the anti-Congress votes in order to defeat the BJP.
He also claimed that the Congress had given money to the AGP. “Who is giving money to AGP? How is a party which is not in power spending so much money?”
Ahluwalia said during the NDA rule, several steps were taken for development of the Northeast such as setting up of a special ministry for the development of the region and another ministry for tribal affairs.
“The UPA during its tenure tried to undo what the BJP had done for the Northeast. For instance, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Veerappa Moily, had recommended winding up of the DoNER ministry, which we had strongly opposed in Parliament,” he said.
According to the BJP leader, Assam is witnessing a fast religious demographic changeand it needs to be controlled.
The AGP, on the other hand, claimed that there was a tacit understanding between the Congress, the BJP and the AIUDF to protect the infiltrators from Bangladesh.
“We want deportation of all infiltrators, irrespective of their religion, who came to the state after March 25, 1971, as mentioned in the Assam Accord. But the BJP wants only Muslim infiltrators to be deported, not the Hindus,” said AGP working president Atul Bora.
Bora also questioned the contribution of Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi to the state.
The Congress, too, convened a news conference to hit out at the BJP for questioning the UPA’s contributions to Assam as well as Gogoi’s track record as chief minister.
Assam PCC chief spokesperson Mehdi Alam Bora, armed with figures, said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad should not question the contributions of the state and Centre related to the employment generation, construction of roads and bridges, educational institutions and power plants under the Congress-led government since 2001.
“The BJP is good at marketing, we are not, one reason why our good work never got publicised. But Assam is better off than it was during the NDA’s rule,” said Bora.
