Samajwadi Party finalises 28 candidates, eyes all Barak Valley seats

Hailakandi, Jan 31: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former general secretary and in-charge of the North East, Mahavir Singh, on Wednesday said the party has already finalised 28 candidates for the upcoming 126-member Assam Assembly elections.

Talking to the media here, Singh said unemployment and the BJP’s communal politics would be the party’s main poll planks. He said the SP has begun forming district committees across the State and is in constant touch with other opposition parties to forge an alliance against the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly polls.

Singh informed that the Samajwadi Party would field candidates in all 13 Assembly constituencies of the Barak Valley. He alleged that the BJP government led by Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has damaged the democratic character of the State and is practising politics based on religion.

Expressing confidence, Singh said the SP would succeed in dislodging the BJP government in the next Assembly elections.

Targeting the Chief Minister, he alleged that Sarma’s repeated “hate comments” against other communities were aimed solely at gaining political mileage.

Singh further accused the BJP of misusing central investigating agencies against opposition leaders as a vindictive measure. He claimed that raids by agencies such as the ED, CBI and Income Tax Department would intensify against opposition parties ahead of the elections.

He said the SP would make the BJP’s alleged communal politics a major issue during its campaign.

Lamenting the lack of public protest in Barak Valley, Singh noted that there was no significant movement against the government’s decision to reduce the number of Assembly seats in the region from 15 to 13.