GUWAHATI, Dec 24 � The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today kick-started its Panchayat poll campaign with a mass rally at the Ganesh Mandir Stadium, Khanapara, making a strong pitch for ousting the �corrupt Congress� from power.
The rally also marked the conclusion of the AGP�s month-long drive aimed at mass awareness (Gana Sachetanata).
Addressing the gathering, AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta questioned the development claimed by the Congress Government in the State, saying that the State had been lagging behind on all the critical development indices and that the Congress was patronizing large-scale corruption in every department.
�Where is the development the Congress is talking about? It has ruled the State for most of the time since Independence and for the last 12 years at a stretch. But the people�s condition is so bad that they have to hanker after the freebies such as poor-quality blankets doled out by the Congress,� Mahanta said.
Mahanta said that the Congress had sunk so deep into the perverse culture of corruption that for many people, joining the party was tantamount to earning handsome dividends without any toil.
�People are leaving government jobs to join the Congress, as they are finding it a more profitable venture. The party has taken corruption to its abyss,� he said, adding that the AGP might not have tainted money power but it was �armed with a resolve to effect a positive change.�
The former Chief Minister said that the Congress had failed on every front, and on many occasions, it was taking credit for what was actually done or started by the AGP during its earlier two terms.
�It is the AGP which had effected the much-needed change in the Central funding pattern by raising the grant part to 90 per cent and lowering the loan component to just 10 per cent,� he said.
