Assam Congress MLAs will not leave party post-election, says Ashok Gehlot

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok

Gehlot on Wednesday asserted that Congress MLAs will not leave the party after the assembly polls, as the people of the state have seen the BJP-led government's "misrule" for five years.

Geholt, whose government was on the brink of collapse last year due to a rebellion by a section of Congress MLAs allegedly at the instigation of the saffron party, claimed at a press conference that the election results of Assam and West Bengal will give "a jerk to the BJP and its fascist ideology".

"You know what happened in Rajasthan. By God's grace, we survived. The BJP has become the world's richest party. They have introduced electoral bonds and 90 per cent of the money is going to the BJP," he said.

Asked if the Congress will be able to retain all its MLAs after the election, Gehlot said that all its elected representatives will stay in the party as the people of the state have seen the "misrule" of the saffron party-led government in Assam.

The Congress government in Rajasthan had faced a crisis in July last year after a rebellion by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs against Gehlot's leadership. The Congress had accused the BJP leaders including Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of trying to topple the government by horse-trading.

He also alleged that the BJP has formed governments in Manipur, Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in recent years by way "cheating".

The saffron party will not form government in any of the four states Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - and the Union Territory of Puducherry where assembly election is being held, the Congress leader asserted.

"In West Bengal, the BJP will not be able to come to power and the Congress will be forming the government in Assam. The results of these two states will give a jerk to the BJP and its fascist ideology, Gehlot said.

He alleged that independent bodies such as the judiciary, CBI, ED, IT and the ECI are pressured by the ruling party to work in its favour and it's a "threat" to democracy.

"The RSS and BJP (leaders) are all fascist people. They are just wearing the mask of democracy. The BJP is totally exposed and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's (popularity) graph is going down," the Congress leader said.

"Journalists, activists and lawyers are in jail. Nobody feels it safe to talk on the phone and everybody is making calls using WhatsApp and Signal. Why?" said, indicating that phones of a section of the people are being tapped.

Without naming senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Congress general secretary Jitendra Singh who is also present at the press conference, claimed that his dream of becoming a chief minister in a BJP government will not be fulfilled.

"What happened to the person who was all dressed up to take oath as the BJP CM? He won't be a CM in the BJP. His dream of becoming a CM in BJP will never be fulfilled. All of you know whom I am talking about," Singh said.

The BJP has not announced its chief ministerial candidate before the Assam polls.

The Congress has been claiming that the state currently has "two chief ministers", in an apparent reference to rumours of senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal acting as rival power centres.

Sarma left the Congress to join the BJP in 2015.

AICC spokesperson Gourav Vallabh claimed that Assam did not do well during the five years of the BJP rule.

Assam's rank in Business Reform Action Plan Results 2019 is 20th out of all Indian states and Union Territories despite the BJP boasting about the Assam Ease of Doing Business Act, 2016, he claimed.

"On the Ease of Doing Business portal, 35,000 applications were received and there was a backlog of 20,000 applications. The government did not have the will to industrialise Assam. Instead, they are selling all the PSUs here," he said.

Of the total FDI received between October 2019 and December 2020 in the country, Assam accounts for just 0.01 per cent of it, Vallabh claimed.

"The number of MSME units and investments coming in have been on a constant decline. In 2016-17, 2,277 units were set up with Rs 606 crore investment. It declined to 1,123 new units in 2018-19 with Rs 200 crore investment," he added.