Dhubri (Assam), May 1: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday alleged that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has a “secret understanding” with AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal just like the BJP has with AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi in Telangana, both aimed at defeating the grand old party.
Addressing an election rally at Balajan in Dhubri district, she alleged that “mafia raj” prevails in Assam and charged the CM with being involved in multiple scams in the state.
She also hit out at the BJP on the sexual abuse allegations against Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought votes for him and did not stop him from leaving the country.
She was campaigning for Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Dhubri, a bastion of AIUDF. He is locked in a triangular contest with sitting MP Ajmal and BJP-backed AGP candidate Zabed Islam, a former MLA.
“BJP and AIUDF have taken local politics to a different direction. Both parties have a secret understanding. Assam CM, in an interview, said that Badruddin wanted him to be the CM from his heart,” Vadra said.
“They did the same thing in Telangana by allying with Owaisi so that they could divide Congress votes. Wherever we are strong, Badruddin has put up AIUDF candidates only because he wants the BJP to win,” she claimed.
She also questioned whether any developmental work has been done by Ajmal in Dhubri despite being a Lok Sabha MP for three terms.
“He (Ajmal) himself says that he is a businessman. He is doing only business with you, not politics and service. Wherever he is seeing profit, he is going there,” Vadra said, accusing Sarma of favouring Ajmal's perfume business by tweaking state policies.
“Both PM Narendra Modi and Himanta are running governments for the billionaires. Modi, Himanta, Badruddin Ajmal — all are the same. They want elections to be fought on any issue other than people's issues,” she claimed.
Lashing out at the BJP-led government in the state on the law and order situation, Vadra alleged, “There is a mafia raj in Assam. Mafias are operating in land, supari (betel nuts), sand, coal and various other sectors. There is extortion everywhere.”
All types of scams related to farmers' assets, PPE kits and flyovers, among others, are taking place along with unabated cow smuggling, but only development is not happening in the state, she added.
