Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday claimed that members of the Bangladesh-origin minority community overwhelmingly voted for the Congress in this Lok Sabha election, without considering the development work done for them by the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state. He also alleged that it is the only community in Assam which indulges in communalism.

Speaking at a felicitation programme of winning candidates of the BJP and its allies at the party’s state headquarters here, he said the ruling alliance garnered nearly 47 per cent of the votes polled, while Congress and its allies bagged 39 per cent of the votes.

The BJP-AGP-UPPL coalition won 11 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with Congress bagging the remaining three.

“If we analyse the 39 per cent votes of the Congress, it is not spread across the state. Fifty per cent of it is concentrated in 21 assembly segments which are minority dominated. In these minority-dominated segments, BJP got 3 per cent votes,” he claimed.

“This proves that Hindus do not indulge in communalism. If anyone indulges in communalism in Assam, it is only one community, one religion. No other religion does it,” the Chief Minister asserted, without naming any sect.

He said that the minority-dominated areas may have no roads, no electricity, but they have been voting overwhelmingly for Congress and did so again.

In contrast, though BJP has been working for the Assamese people and tribals, these communities have not voted 100 per cent for the saffron party, he added.

“Except in Karimganj, if we consider the centres with majority Bangladesh-origin people, 99 per cent of votes have gone to Congress,” he said.

“They (minority people) may be residing in houses given by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, availing electricity and sanitation facilities provided by Modi, but when they go to vote, they vote for Congress,” Mr Sarma claimed.

He maintained that the Bangladesh-origin community will vote for Congress because they want to “control the state in the next 10 years”.

Mr Sarma alleged that the members of the community attacked a police station in Lakhimpur, a village in Barpeta and tried to encroach land in Kokrajhar when the BJP government was “inactive” since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in place..

“When BJP government will not be there, one can only imagine how many such attacks will happen,” he added.

The Chief Minister said the BJP and its allies had won 92 out of 126 assembly segments in this Lok Sabha election, which was the highest ever for any ruling alliance in the state.

“This time, we got 47 per cent votes. Our target will be to get 50 per cent of the votes in 2026 state polls,” the BJP leader added.

Mr Sarma asserted that BJP is into politics for nation building and will continue to work for development of all parts, irrespective of whether its candidate had won or not from those areas.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The woman, who had allegedly honey-trapped the 26-year-old man killed in a shooting spree at a Delhi’s Burger King outlet, was spotted at the Katra Railway Station on Thursday.

Anu, also known as “Lady Don” among her gang members, was seen carrying her luggage at the Katra railway station on Thursday in a security camera footage. She had covered her face with a scarf.

Sources say she boarded a train bound for Mumbai at around 10 am on Thursday.

Police sources say the woman – a close aide of fugitive gangster Himanshu Bhau – was part of the trap set up to lure Aman Joon to the Burger King outlet in Rajouri Garden where he was murdered.

Anu belongs to Haryana’s Rohtak and has a criminal record. “Attempts are being made to track her down,” police said.

As many as 38 bullets of three different makes were fired at Aman Joon inside the fast food outlet, the FIR says. The different bullets suggest that more than two weapons were used by the two shooters.

In another security camera footage, which was released earlier, Anu was seen sitting with Aman when the gunmen opened fire.

CCTV footage has shown that Anu took a train from GTB Nagar Metro Station to reach Rajouri Garden and after the murder, she took the metro from Rajouri Garden to Shakurpur Metro Station.

Aman’s body was found behind the billing counter, indicating that he tried to flee when the killers opened fire.

Himanshu Bhau, suspected to be in Portugal now, has claimed responsibility for the murder in a social media post, calling it a “revenge killing”.

Himanshu Bhau, whose gang operates across Delhi and Haryana, is notorious for extortion, the police officer said. Bhau, an associate of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana, fled the country in 2022.

BJP criticizes Congress and allies for silence on the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, which has claimed 56 lives. BJP MP Sambit Patra names Congress leaders for not addressing the issue.