Manmohan Singh using Assam for political advantages: BJP

GUWAHATI: The BJP today attacked the UPA government at the Centre and charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of neglecting and using Assam, which he has been representing since 1991, for his "political advantages".

"Manmohan Singh went to the Rajya Sabha from Assam in 1991. He has been the Prime Minister for the past nine and half years. Can he tell the people what has he done for this state?" BJP's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

"I am sorry to say Manmohan Singh used Assam for his political advantages... Monmohan Singh, you have prospered, but you left behind Assam," he alleged.

Prasad, along with his senior party colleagues Gopinath Munde, S S Ahluwalia, Nirmala Sitaraman and Arti Mehra, came to Assam for a two-day visit to prepare a "charge sheet" against the UPA government.

"In the last two terms of the UPA, no big factory came to this region. If Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi's Amethi can have so many big government projects, then why can't a single big project be launched in Assam," Prasad questioned.

Earlier Atal Bihari Vajpayee worked for Assam and now Narendra Modi will work for Assam, he added.

The BJP leader also expressed anguish over not been able to award 'heritage site' distinction to Majuli and "not doing anything" to protect the world famous river island from massive erosion of the Brahmaputra.

Talking about killings of rhinos, Prasad said "one-horned rhinos are pride of not only the North East, but the entire country. In the last 10 years, 1,053 rhinos were killed, but the Tarun Gogoi government has failed to stop this."

He charged that the state government was allowing illegal Bangladeshi migrants to settle in and around Kaziranga National Park for "vote bank politics" and they were into poaching of animals.