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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win more than 300 Lok Sabha seats across the country in next year's general elections and return to power for the third consecutive term with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm.
Addressing a rally in Dibrugarh, where he laid the foundation stone for a BJP office, Shah exuded confidence that the saffron party will win 12 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state.
"Narendra Modi will become the prime minister for the third consecutive term with the party winning over 300 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," he said.
There are 543 seats in the lower house of the Parliament.
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, the senior BJP leader said, "Northeast was once considered a fortress of the Congress but despite Rahul Gandhi's yatra (Bharat Jodo Yatra), the party failed to perform well in the recent assembly elections in three states in the region."
Assembly elections were recently held in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland. The BJP formed the government in Tripura, and came in power as alliance partners in the other two states.
Shah thanked the people of Assam, which was the first state in the Northeast to give mandate to the BJP.
Alluding to Rahul Gandhi's controversial remarks during his visit to United Kingdom, Shah, who arrived in Dibrugarh from neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, said, "He (Gandhi) insulted India from foreign soil. If he continues defaming the country and the government by peddling lies, Congress will be whitewashed from the entire country after being shown the door in the Northeast."
"There is no point in abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as every Indian is praying for his good health. The more they (Congress) badmouth our PM, the more lotus (BJP's election symbol) will bloom," he said.
Shah said that the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 or AFSPA has been removed from 70 per cent of the area of Assam, while Bodoland and Karbi Anglong areas are peaceful and the state's border disputes with its neighbouring provinces are being resolved.
"Earlier, Assam was known for andolan (agitation) and aatankwad (terrorism) but now there is peace and people are dancing to the beats of Bihu music," Shah said, while referring to a mega event which will be held in Guwahati on April 14 in which over 11,000 dancers will perform in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shah said that under the BJP rule in Assam, over 41,000 have been given employment, 25,000 hectares of land have been earmarked for Bajra Mission, two lakh hectares for palm oil production and 12 lakh families have been provided with handlooms.
He said the BJP government in Assam has already established 12 medical colleges and 12 more are in the pipeline, while Modi will inaugurate AIIMS in the state on the occasion of Rongali Bihu.
''The double-engine government of the BJP under the leadership of PM Modi at the Centre, and Sarbananda Sonowal and later Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam have led to a path-breaking development, peace and security in the state," Shah said.
Shah later left the state for New Delhi aboard a flight from Dibrugarh airport.