With less than a month to go for elections in Assam, controversial BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Sunday attacked the Congress-AIUDF opposition alliance, comparing the latter party - the All India United Democratic Front - to the Mughals, while addressing a youth rally in Dibrugarh district.
"Congress is the stooge of (AIUDF chief) Badruddin Ajmal, who is a representative of the Mughals. We have to discard them... drive them out to create a new Assam," he said.
This was the first rally organised by Surya and the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, which is the youth wing of the ruling BJP, since the Election Commission announced polling dates on Friday.
As Assam prepares to vote for a new government - over three phases starting March 27 - the BJP has begun attracting support from young men and women across the state, many of whom had travelled from the lower districts to Dibrugarh to listen to Tejasvi Surya.
Senior BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam BJP President Ranjeet Dass and Union Minister Rameswar Teli, were also present.
Apart from making his "Mughals" comment, Surya, who earlier this week declared that the opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu (which votes in April), was "anti-Hindu", also praised the development of Assam under Chief Minister Sonowal.
"No one can stop the development of Assam because a new foundation has been laid under BJP rule. Under the vibrant leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his vision of an 'atmanirbhar Bharat', (there is) a new revolution in India," he declared.
"We will give youth the responsibility of going door-door to door to tell people about the work of the BJP government in the past five years," the Chief Minister said at the same event.
The BJP has left little in the bag as it looks to win a second term in Assam. The Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah - the party's senior-most figures - have both made multiple visits.
On Saturday, though, the party's hopes took a blow after the Bodoland People's Front quit the BJP-led NDA and joined the Congress in the opposition grouping.
Referred to as a "kingmaker" in Assam politics, BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary today said: "How can they (BJP) win when I am not on their side? We will have to see the exit of the BJP in Assam."
In the past three elections (since the BPF was formed), the alliance it has supported has formed the government. The party had previously supported the Congress, switching to the BJP only in 2016.
The Congress, meanwhile, plays its big gun on Monday, when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will tour districts on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, where the BJP and its ally, the AGP, have a strong presence.
Her first stop will be in Guwahati - she will visit the Kamakhya temple to offer prayers for her party.
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