We have gained Muslim votes in minority dominated LS seats in Assam: BJP MLA

Guwahati, May 23 (IANS) Assam BJP MLA Krishnendu Paul on Thursday claimed that his party has gained a good percentage of Muslim votes in the minority-dominated Lok Sabha seats in the state due to the BJP's developmental politics.

Paul is an MLA from the Patharkandi assembly segment in Assam’s Karimganj district. He was also a key strategist for the party in Karimganj parliamentary segment which is largely dominated by Muslims.

The Karimganj LS seat was earlier reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community; however, in last year’s delimitation exercise, the seat was de-reserved.

Muslim voters outnumbered Hindu votes by a good extent in Karimganj. This is why Congress seemed to have an upper hand in this constituency.

“BJP governments in both the Centre and state have done the politics of development in the last several years. There was no discrimination in the government-aided projects. Whether it is Ayushman Bharat or the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Muslims were never left out. The minority voters have understood this very well,” Krishnendu Paul told IANS.

In 2019, BJP candidate Kripanath Mallah won the Karimganj seat defeating AIUDF and Congress candidates. It was a triangular contest and the division of minority votes between Congress and AIUDF paved the way for the BJP.

In the recently concluded polls too BJP, Congress and AIUDF candidates were in the fray in Karimganj. Mallah was again given the BJP ticket while the senior advocate of Gauhati High Court Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury was the Congress candidate.

“We were not concerned about the division of votes between our opposition candidates. This time Muslim people in large numbers came forward to support us. It was only due to the developmental agenda of our party,” Krishnendu Paul said.

He also alleged that Congress had never empowered Muslim people rather they used minority communities as their vote ban.

Karimganj, Nagaon and Dhubri are three minority-dominated Lok Sabha seats in Assam and Congress has been optimistic in winning these segments. However, the BJP leader Krishnendu Paul claimed that except for the Dhubri seats, the ruling party has done well and Congress will be defeated.