Sonitpur: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi with party candidate from Sonitpur constituency Rishiraj Kaundinya during a roadshow ahead of the Lok Sabha election, in Sonitpur district, Wednesday, April 10, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Tezpur: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sonitpur Lok Sabha candidate Rishiraj Kaundinya claimed that the people are fed up with the brand of politics of Congress and BJP, and are ready to give his party a chance in Assam.
Kaundinya also claimed that the opposition's attempt to unite against the BJP in all the Lok Sabha seats in Assam failed due to Congress and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP).
The AAP candidate exuded confidence in winning the Sonitpur constituency, maintaining that people want a change after having 'lost their faith in both Congress and BJP'.
"People have seen only three things since independence here increase in prices of commodities, increase in minister's assets and increase of people's misery," he told PTI in an interview.
The AAP candidate said, 'Building roads is not real development. Improvement in the condition of people is real development.' Kaundinya claimed that no Lok Sabha MP from this constituency after Purna Narayan Sinha, who was elected from here in 1977 as a Janata Party candidate, has been able to present the issues of the area convincingly in Parliament or undertake any major initiative.
Taking a covert hit at BJP candidate Ranjit Dutta from Sonitpur, Kaundinya said, "The youth want change. The people in the BJP are senior people, they have been in politics for long and have been minister also. But they have not done anything noteworthy for the people."
He maintained that the people of the constituency who have visited Delhi, Punjab and other parts of the country have seen the development taking place there, and wants it replicated in their state too.
"Unemployment is a problem here. So, people are working in Delhi, Punjab. They have seen development there, there is no electricity bill, medical care is free, buses for women are free, etc. They want a government which can give them these things here also," he said.
Referring to Congress members and leaders joining the BJP here, including the chief minister who is a former member of the grand old party, Kaundinya said, "BJP was an independent party which is filled with Congress people now. The same people who were ruining the country as Congressmen earlier are now putting up a facade of saving the country."
The AAP Sonitpur candidate said, "People don't have faith in them and want a new party which will work for them."
He claimed that the opposition's attempt to unite against the BJP in all the Lok Sabha seats in Assam failed due to Congress and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP).
Kaundinya said the AAP was committed for a united opposition as evident from it conceding seats to Congress in Delhi and Punjab, where his party is in power, and taking back candidate in Goa.
"In Assam also, AAP took back its candidate from the prestigious Guwahati seat, from where our state president was nominated. It was for the sake of United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA)," he said.
The UOFA, a multi-party platform, was formed in the state last year to field common candidates against the BJP in the Lok Sabha election, but the alliance has pitched its nominees against each other in several constituencies.
The AAP, a member of the UOFA, is contesting from Sonitpur and Dibrugarh, which also have Congress' Premlal Gunju and AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi as candidates respectively.
Highlighting that the state Congress chief and AJP chief are the UOFA president and secretary respectively, Kaundinya said, "The Congress gave candidates in 13 seats, and the secretary is himself the candidate from the 14th seat. The president and secretary of UOFA divided the seats among themselves and left nothing for the partners. We feel they want to directly help the BJP. The forum fell apart due to them, not us."
There are a total of eight candidates in the fray in Sonitpur, which goes to the polls on April 19.