Congress does not play vote bank politics: Tarun Gogoi

"Since 1952 we have mostly won seats in upper Assam. So where in the question of vote bank politics?" Gogoi asked.

The chief minister told reporters that the white paper on illegal immigrants released by his government last week pointed out a roadmap for dealing with the issue in future.

"The AGP and BJP have criticised me because I said that issue of illegal immigrants is not the number one issue. What is wrong with what I said?"

He said the government wanted to take forward the discussion on the white paper on foreigners to remove misunderstandings so that a more clear picture emerged.

"The figures are not mine, The figures are based on Census data and data from the Foreigners Tribunals.

"We are serious about the issue of illegal immigrants. Work on the photo-IDs of voters has progressed and we also want to take up the UID scheme in the state," he added.

Stating that the foreigners issue was a major one, but not the only one, Gogoi said, "We have said the issue of economic development is the topmost priority and we also have to deal with unemployment, education, health and agriculture."

"For AGP and BJP issues like economic development and unemployment do not figure in the list of priorities," he said. MORE