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Sonowal demands accounts from Gogoi

By Ron Duarah

DIBRUGARH, Dec 21 - Stressing that �good accounting is synonymous with good governance�, Assam BJP chief Sarbananda Sonowal today lashed out at Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, accusing the latter of �missing three golden opportunities of good governance and account keeping.� Sonowal accused the Congress Government in Assam of indulging in unprecedented corruption and misuse of Central development funds in the last 15 years. He quoted excerpts from the 2014-15 CAG report to buttress his claim.

Sonowal said the Tarun Gogoi Government is asking for a progress report of the one-and-a-half-year-old Narendra Modi Government, whereas the Tarun Gogoi-led Government in Assam has refused to account for its 15 years. He said the Narendra Modi Government is keen to accelerate all-round development of the North East. �We will submit our White Paper in due course of time, but Gogoi needs to rush his Government�s White Paper so that people of Assam get to know what has happened to the huge sums of money the Centre pumped into Assam between 2001 and 2015,� he said.

He said the NDA Government believes in transparency in governance. �On the other hand, Tarun Gogoi gets angry when asked to submit accounts. If he is clean, he might as well prove it with an account book.�

According to Sonowal, the Congress and its chief ministers have deprived the people of Assam in the past 65 years of progress and development. �They have squandered the goodwill of the people for decades and this will not be allowed to continue.� He suggested that Chief Minister Gogoi explain why he and his (Congress) party deliberately failed the people of the State.

On the proposed political alignment between the Congress and the AIUDF, Sonowal likened it to a coalition of �Mir Jumla and Ram Singh�. �If the Assembly polls of 2016 in Assam is visualised as another battle for Saraighat, Lachit�s role would be played by the BJP, that of Ram Singh by the Congress and Mir Jumla by the AIUDF,� said Sonowal satirically.

Replying to a question, Sonowal said the 90:10 funding pattern of Assam by the Centre was never dispensed with. He said certain fundings have been re-adjusted, given the allegations of rampant misuse of Central funds in Assam. He added that core sector programmes have been retained in the 90:10 scheme.

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