Assam election results: BJP scripts history, sets sights on north-east
BJP workers celebrate the party’s victory in the Assam assembly election at Hengrabari in Guwahati on Thursday. Photo: PTI
Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created history in Assam on Thursday, ending the Congress’s 15-year rule with a decisive mandate that vaulted it to power in the state for the first time.
The victory in Assam also means the BJP will get to play a decisive role in the politics of the tumultuous northeastern region, where it has until now been a marginal political force.
BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) won a combined 86 seats in the 126-member Assam assembly. On its own, the BJP won 60 seats, the AGP 14 and the BPF 12 seats.
After being in office for three straight terms under chief minister Tarun Gogoi, the Congress ended up with just 26 seats, feeling the sting of an anti-incumbency wave and popular desire for change.
“The BJP was conscious of the 15-year-long yearning for development of the people of Assam,” said Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, vice- president of the party. “BJP succeeded in presenting itself as a harbinger of development, good governance and social harmony. Besides, our credibility on the front of Assam being made free of the infiltrators has always remained hugely high. For making Bharat Congress-mukt (Congress-free), we’re trying to make BJP-yukta (capable).”