Assam Congress cheers Gujarat poll win

GUWAHATI: Ahead of next year's assembly election, Congress in Assam got another dose of morale booster with the grand old party performing well in the local body elections in Gujarat. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said the results are a pointer to the fact that the much-hyped Gujarat Model of Development is a dismal failure.

Congress in Assam has been upbeat ever since the BJP suffered electoral drubbing in the Bihar assembly polls. Gogoi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much-touted Gujarat Model of Development has been a dismal failure as people in the rural areas have outrightly rejected it in the just-concluded panchayat elections.

"There is disenchantment everywhere with people rejecting the BJP one after the other. Delhi, Uttarakhand, Bihar and now Gujarat panchayat elections have proved that the people have become alienated from the BJP and are fed up with its promises during just one and a half years of its rule at the Centre," Gogoi said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi instead of letting people know about his 'mann' (thoughts), must listen to people's Mann Ki Baat.

Gogoi said the Gujarat Model has thoroughly exposed the fact that the model is meant for the rich. "Around 80% of the populace of our country lives in rural areas. The people living in rural areas of Gujarat have made the BJP bite the dust in the panchayat election as they have realised that the BJP government is for the rich and affluent and not for the poor," he said.

The chief minister said the Modi-led government is pro-rich and pro-corporate, leaving the poor in the lurch.