Assam polls: Congress allied with AIUDF just for votes, says Rajnath Singh

The Congress party formed an alliance with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in Assam only for the sake of votes, alleged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday, hitting out at the Congress ahead of the state elections set to take place later this month.

"Congress' Tarun Gogoi was Chief Minister for over 15 years but he never joined hands with the AIUDF. But today for the sake of votes, Congress has aligned with a party like the AIUDF. What has happened to it?" Singh said while addressing an election rally in Dergaon of Assam's Golghat district.

The Minister further added, "Politics should be done for the betterment of society and to build the country but politics of religion should not be done. We (BJP) believe in justice for all, appeasement of none."

He also lauded the allocation of Rs 1,000 crores to tea gardens in the state budget.

"For the first time, a government has allocated Rs 1,000 crores for tea garden workers in its budget. These workers would never have thought that Rs 8,000 will be directly transferred to their accounts," he said.

Earlier in the day, the Defence Minister had also held a rally in the Biswanath district to campaign for elections of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Assam.

Assembly elections in Assam for 126 seats will be held in three phases starting from March 27. A total of 2,32,44,454 electors will cast their votes in the 15th Legislative Assembly.

The first phase of notification is March 2 where 47 seats in 12 districts will go to the polls. In the second phase, 39 constituencies in 13 districts will go to the polls on April 1 and in the third phase, 41 constituencies across 12 districts will go to polls on April 6.

( With inputs from ANI )