‘BJP to lose because of their poll eve sop of Rs 3000 each to tea workers’

GUWAHATI: The BJP is going to lose the assembly elections in Assam this time for depositing money to tea community voters’ accounts.

This was stated by Assam Tea Tribe Students Association central committee executive member Ajay Tanti who joined the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP)along with several other tea community student leaders here today.

At a time when the ruling BJP and the Congress have been leaving no stone unturned to keep their tea community vote bank intact, several tea community student leaders today joined the newly floated AJP.

Joining the regional party, Tanti said if the BJP was thinking that it has bought the votes of 1 crore tea community giving Rs 3000 each, they were day dreaming. “This will in fact be the reason for their defeat this time,” he said.

The tea community has been peeved with the BJP after the ruling party not only failed to hike tea workers’ wages to Rs 351, but also did not honour their long standing demand for Schedule Tribe status.

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The BJP has hiked the tea workers daily wage to Rs 217 instead, while the Congress has promised Rs 365 wage if voted to power.

While the BJP has been trying to keep the tea votes intact by distributing smartphones among tea workers and depositing Rs 3000 to each of their bank accounts, the Congress has been making their best efforts to woo back its old vote bank.

The AJP-Raijor Dal alliance has not made any commitment to the tea community.

Apart from Tanti, ATTSA’s Tezpur district unit vice president Winston Sona, Rangapani unit’s organisational secretary Pralay Iyal and All Assam Adivasis Students’ Association Sonitpur district unit’s general secretary Prahlad Tanti joined the AJP in presence of party president Lurinjyoti Gogoi at the party headquarters here.

In the meeting, which was also attended by AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan, vice president Balen Bharali and publicity secretary Jiaur Rahman, National Students’ Union of India’s former state president Abdul B Sikdar and Patharkandi zonal Congress president Haji Abdul Barchoudhury also joined the AJP.