Beneficiary politics won’t sway Assam voters: LoP Debabrata Saikia

Guwahati, Feb 12: Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia has asserted that the BJP government’s push to distribute welfare benefits will not hurt the Congress in the upcoming Assam Assembly elections.

Saikia, the Nazira MLA who is likely to contest again from his constituency, said the “politics of beneficiaries” would not translate into votes for the ruling party.

“The politics of beneficiaries won’t affect Congress’ prospects in the upcoming polls. As the Chief Minister says the welfare schemes are for poor people, the poor are availing the benefits, but they haven’t sold their conscience,” Saikia told the press, on Thursday.

He alleged that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is prioritising electioneering over governance but maintained that voters would see through what he described as attempts to “buy” support.

Citing districts such as Nalbari, Saikia said it is largely the poor who attended Congress public meetings. “When they come to our sabhas, they realise that the BJP has been trying to buy them, but they are not willing to be sold out,” he said.

Nazira & local issues

Speaking about his electoral prospects in Nazira, Saikia acknowledged the challenges of being in the Opposition but said the “hypocrisy” of the ruling dispensation would form the core of his campaign.

“Be it the demand for justice for Zubeen Garg or the attempts to sell off indigenous land, these are key issues here,” he said.

Referring to the state government’s Mission Basundhara initiative, Saikia claimed that of around 7,000 applicants in the first phase and about 4,000 in the second phase in Nazira, only 1,500 were allotted land. “The government is all glitter, no substance,” he alleged.

Drawing a comparison with previous Congress governments, Saikia said that land was allotted to people during the party’s tenure as well, though not under the Mission Basundhara banner. “In advertisements, they are good. But it does not always materialise into reality,” he said.

Opposition alliance talks

Meanwhile, talks of an Opposition alliance gathered momentum after the Congress entrusted former Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Borah and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain with negotiating seat-sharing discussions.

Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi welcomed the move. “We are happy that Bhupen Borah has been entrusted with the responsibility to look after the alliance. He spoke to me in the morning and assured that very soon there will be a meeting. He is a very practical person and we wish that under his watch, the alliance becomes a reality very soon,” Gogoi said, on Thursday.[

APCC president Gaurav Gogoi confirmed that Borah and Hussain have been tasked with coordinating the talks and arriving at a solution within a stipulated timeframe.