GUWAHATI — BJP Assam unit president Bhabesh Kalita on Saturday dared the Congress to contest all the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state in next year's general elections to "gauge people's support".
He exuded confidence that the NDA will retain power at the Centre and Narendra Modi will become the prime minister for a third time.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]"The Congress should contest all 14 seats in the state. The BJP and its allies will also contest all the seats. We can then test with whom the public support is," Kalita told reporters during a day-long party meeting here.
"People have seen the work we have done for them and they will vote for us. The BJP-led NDA and Narendra Modi ji will retain power for the third straight term," he asserted.
On the Opposition decrying the draft delimitation proposal for the state, the BJP leader claimed they were trying to find faults where there are none to hide their own shortcomings.
He also dismissed Opposition allegations that the draft has been drawn to suit the BJP's agenda.
"The ECI is an independent body, it doesn't work as per anyone's diktat. The Opposition knows it well," he said.
Kalita also made light of 11 Opposition parties, including the Congress, jointly going to the national capital to register their protest before the ECI.
"They don't have any work here anyway, so they perhaps thought of visiting Delhi," he added.
Asked about the BJP's ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) also airing discontent over the draft, Kalita said it was for the party to deal with themselves.
"Atul Bora, the AGP president who is also a cabinet minister, has given a statement welcoming the draft. If any party member says something else, the AGP will deal with it through its own mechanisms," the state BJP chief added.
On the day-long meeting with party leaders of different levels, in which Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present for a session, Kalita said the Jansampark Abhiyan was discussed at length.
"The programme has been extended till July 16 and we want to reach out to all sections of the society. We discussed the successful completion of the outreach campaign," he added.
Reacting to Kalita's statement, Congress leader Debabrata Saikia said the grand old party will unitedly contest the Lok Sabha elections with other like-minded Opposition parties.
"As our party has decided to contest the polls unitedly, it will be wrong for us to say at this point in time how many seats we will fight. The BJP will want to divide the Opposition so that they can win even with just 30 per cent votes. But we will not let that happen," the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly added.