Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former general secretary, Mahavir Singh, on Wednesday announced that the party has finalised candidates for 28 constituencies ahead of the 126-member Assam Assembly elections.
Speaking to reporters, Singh said unemployment and what he described as the BJP’s divisive politics would form the core of the SP’s election campaign in the State. He added that the party has already started constituting district-level committees across Assam and is actively engaging with other opposition parties to build a united front against the BJP.
The SP leader confirmed that his party would contest all 13 Assembly seats in the Barak Valley. He accused the BJP government, led by Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, of eroding Assam’s democratic fabric and pursuing politics centred on religion.
Expressing optimism about the party’s prospects, Singh claimed that the SP would be able to unseat the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections. He also trained his guns on the Chief Minister, alleging that Sarma’s repeated remarks targeting certain communities were intended purely for political gain.
Singh further alleged that the BJP was using central investigating agencies as tools to harass opposition leaders. According to him, actions by agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Income Tax Department were likely to increase as elections draw closer.
The SP, he said, would strongly raise the issue of alleged communal politics during its campaign across the State. Commenting on the Barak Valley, Singh expressed concern over the absence of strong public resistance to the reduction of Assembly constituencies in the region from 15 to 13, stating that no major protest movement had emerged against the decision.
