Raipur (Chhattisgarh):

Attacking the BJP government led by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Assam, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress’ senior observer for state assembly polls Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday said that the BJP has failed to deliver on 2016 poll promises.

“They had promised to seal Bangladesh border, construct Expressways on both sides of Brahmaputra river and raise daily wages of tea garden workers, but they didn’t. BJP ka nasha utar gaya hai (BJP’s intoxication has ended) They have failed to deliver promises,” said Mr Baghel.

The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister claimed that BJP is confused and Assam is going to slip out of their hands.

“They (BJP) don’t have any agenda. They should first decide whether Sarbananda Sonowal or Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has been the Chief Minister for the last five years in Assam. BJP is confused and Assam is going to slip out of their hands,” the Congress leader stated.

The first phase nominations have been completed in Assam, and nominations for the second phase are now in full swing. All political parties have entered the electoral arena depending on their respective strategy.

The term of the 14th legislative assembly of Assam is up to 31 May 2021. The Assembly elections for 126 seats will be held in three phases starting from March 27. In 2016 Assembly polls were held in two phases.

In 2016, the BJP scripted history and formed the government for the first time in the state ending Congress’s 15-year rule. BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) won a combined 86 seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly. BJP bagged 60 seats, AGP 14 and BPF 12 seats. Congress, which ran the state for three straight terms under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi, could manage to win only 26 seats.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won nine of the 14 parliamentary seats while its allies the AGP and the BPF drew a blank. On the other hand, Congress bagged three seats and the AIUDF and an independent won one seat each.

Earlier in January, the Assam Congress unit had announced that five political parties including Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(Marxist), CPI(Marxist-Leninist) and Anchalik Gana Morcha would contest the state Assembly polls together to oust the Sonowal government from power.

The BJP is relying heavily on central leadership to return to power again in the state. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda visited the state and addressed the huge gatherings in different parts of the state.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal is pushing the issue of insurgency in the state and has said that his government is working to make Assam a terror-free state. Five groups of Karbi Anglong surrendered in front of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at a function in Guwahati on February 23, ahead of the state’s assembly elections. The development comes a year after the Modi government signed the Bodo peace accord — bringing an end to tPM he long violent movement for a separate Bodoland.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)