Campaigning for three Youth Congress leaders -- Rekibuddin Ahmed, Jitu Kissan and Pijush Hazarika -- at Chaygaon, Majbat and Raha constituencies for the second phase of the Assam polls, Gandhi said, "The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act spoke of the Congress' commitment to uplift the rural poor. NREGA is not a mere a scheme but an act that compels the government to provide jobs to the unemployed all across the country, especially in rural areas."
He asked the people to choose Youth Congress leaders over their ageing rivals for the obvious reason that the younger legislators would be full of energy and enthusiasm to work for the rural folk.
In an apparent reaction to rival parties' allegations of corruption against the Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and the state government in Assam, Gandhi said, "The Congress is the only party which has taken tough action against those found to be corrupt. The RTI Act put into force by the UPA government has been instrumental in exposing corruption."
The Congress general secretary lauded the success of the Tarun Gogoi-led government in Assam for facilitating overall economic development, infrastructure development, restoration of peace since the party came to power in the state in 2001.
"When the Asom Gana Parishad was in power before the Congress, peace was a far cry while development activities were stalemated; employees were not getting salaries regularly. Today, the situation is completely different with the state registering an economic growth rate of eight per cent compared to the two per cent during the AGP regime. So, vote for the Congress and Tarun Gogoi to ensure that higher economic development and peace prevails in Assam," Gandhi said at an election rally attended by thousands at Chaygaon in Kamrup district.
