“Assamese want change, there’s rampant corruption, all ministers have looted state”: DK Shivakumar

Speaking to the media, Shivakumar said that he will be visiting poll-bound Assam and Kerala to campaign for the Congress party.

“Of course, I am going to Assam. I will be there. I have to go to Assam and Kerala. I have to look after Karnataka. We have to look after all states and do campaigning. I am sure there will be a big change in Assam. People of Assam want a change because there is rampant corruption there,” he said.He criticised the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, saying that it has not fulfilled the promises made during the last election, and the Ministers have only looted the State.

“Administration has collapsed. People are suffering, and the common man is not getting justice. All ministers have looted the state. There has been no administration for the last 10 years. There is no protection for the common man.

Whatever they assured in the last election on the caste issue, on the land issue has not been sorted out. So, I think, after the candidate list of the BJP, none of them is happy. They are thinking that there is no opportunity for all of them at this party. So, even the BJP members and workers have decided to help the Congress party,” he added.Moreover, speaking on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s remark stating that only Bangladeshi infiltrators will vote for Congress, Shivakumar refuted that there have been no Bangladeshis in the State and Sarma is trying to polarise Assam.

“He is always speaking about Bangladeshis. He is trying to polarise. He is speaking on my Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president (Gaurav Gogoi). His father was a CM, and he is a sitting MP. He (CM Sarma) is afraid of my PCC president.

So, he is using my PCC president’s name. No Bangladeshis are there. In order to polarise, he is creating all these issues,” DK Shivakumar said.Earlier on Thursday, Sarma said that the Congress-led opposition alliance have no agenda, because in the last 60 years, what they have provided the people have seen.

“We have completely turned around Assam. Today, people are seeing a new Assam, based on our strong culture and heritage. People are completely with the BJP, except Bangladeshi infiltrators. No local indigenous Indian people will vote for Congress,” Sarma said.Polling for all 126 constituencies in Assam will be held on April 9, with counting scheduled for May 4, as announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

In the 2021 assembly elections, the NDA, comprising the BJP, AGP and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), won 75 seats, with the BJP alone winning 60 seats. The Congress and AIUDF had formed a grand alliance along with the BPF and the communist parties, but the alliance performed poorly with just 16 seats out of 126.