Guwahati, Feb 19 — Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday released a 20-point “charge sheet” in Guwahati accusing the BJP-led Assam government of corruption and of using state machinery to instil fear among minorities ahead of the Assembly elections. The document, unveiled on the first day of her two-day visit to the state, lists alleged failures and unkept promises by the ruling dispensation.
The charge sheet says the government failed to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six indigenous communities and did not raise the daily wage of tea garden workers to the Rs 351 level it had reportedly committed to. Vadra, who chairs the Congress candidate screening committee for the Assam polls, accused the state administration of “rampant corruption.”
The Congress additionally alleged that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with certain ministers and their family members, had “accumulated wealth illegally,” according to the party release. The document frames these accusations as part of a broader pattern of governance failures the party says will be central to its campaign.
Asked about the recent defection of former Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupen Bora to the BJP, Vadra downplayed the move, saying: “Defection occurs prior to every election. It’s a given and very common. But we, the Congress, will fight together as a united entity and everybody is taking it as a war and our soldiers would fight and win.”
Three senior Congress leaders from outside Assam-Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Bhupesh Baghel and Bandhu Tirkey-joined the programme. Shivakumar, serving as a senior observer for the polls, expressed confidence in the party’s prospects and dismissed remarks by Chief Minister Sarma, saying the BJP was recruiting individuals with no prior political space and that Sarma was making “baseless statements.”
The Congress move signals an intensifying political contest in Assam as parties prepare for a high-stakes Assembly election battle.
Original Source: https://assamtribune.com/guwahati/priyanka-fires-poll-salvo-releases-20-point-charge-sheet-against-assam-govt-1608059
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Publish Date: 2026-02-19 18:30:00
