NDA will win 90 Assam seats: Shah at Guwahati roadshow

Guwahati: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the BJP-led NDA will secure more than 90 of the 126 assembly seats and form the govt for the third consecutive term in Assam.Shah kicked off his election campaign with a massive 2-km roadshow here despite inclement weather. He stood atop an open-decked SUV and rallied support for chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, alongside Guwahati Central’s Vijay Kumar Gupta, New Guwahati’s Diplu Ranjan Sarmah, Dispur’s Pradyut Bordoloi and AGP’s Dimoria nominee Tapan Das. Except Himanta, all candidates accompanied Shah during the roadshow. At the end of the 2-km roadshow, Shah told media, “The people of Assam are eager to form an NDA govt. We will form govt again with more than 90 seats,” he told cheering crowds.Highlighting BJP’s achievements, Shah said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam has witnessed world-class infrastructure growth. “Extremism, bomb blasts and firings have stopped. Health infrastructure is being developed here. The state has become the hub of health and education in the entire northeast,” he added.Shah said employment opportunities have expanded and modern industries, including semiconductor manufacturing units, are being set up, projecting Assam as a driver of India’s growth story.Heavy showers early Saturday morning left large swathes of the city waterlogged. The downpour not only disrupted traffic but also threw a spanner into election campaigning, forcing Himanta to alter his schedule to Golakganj in Dhubri district. Instead, the CM addressed the waiting crowd remotely — his speech relayed through a mobile phone connected to the public address system.The floods in the city gave rival Congress ammunition to target BJP’s governance record over the past five years. Party leaders were quick to point to waterlogging as evidence of poor urban infrastructure, sharpening their attack on the ruling party’s development claims.Shah, who arrived here in the evening, met BJP functionaries here. He is scheduled to campaign in Dhekiajuli and Tihu constituencies tomorrow.