Rahul pitches for Gogoi as CM for third term

``Assam will benefit if Gogoiji is returned to power as he will continue taking the process of development and peace forward``, Gandhi said while addressing a campaign rally for Rekibuddin Ahmed, the party`s candidate for Chaygaon assembly constituency in Kamrup(Rural) district.

In Assam, the Congress is ruling since 2001 and in Delhi since 2004 and ``where ever the party is in power, it follows the rule of providing a government of the common people, poor and backward``.

``Ten years ago when the AGP was in power in the state there was neither peace nor development and it claimed that there could be no development without peace but during the last ten years, Gogoiji has brought both peace and development in Assam``, he added.

During the AGP rule, government employees did not get their salaries, there was no road and the growth rate was only two per cent but in the last ten years, the Congress government has not only ensured payment of salaries on time for government employees but also constructed 25,000 km of roads and eight per cent of economic growth has been achieved, Gandhi added.

``We don`t work for poor alone but for all sections of the people and there are some parties which indulge in a politics of division by extending help to only a section of the people``, he said.

The Congress, whether it rules from Delhi or Guwahati, is committed to the future of the poor, adivasis, dalit, women and backward sections, Gandhi asserted.

"Congress governments believe in holding hands of the poor and empowering them," he said.

Gandhi said the NREGA, launched by his party, had transformed the lives of the poor and the backward.

"Wherever I go, people tell me that NREGA has given them a new life and the NREGA is not a programme but an Act of law. If any person asks for a job, the government is bound to give him/her a job," he said.

On the issue of corruption, Congress general secretary said the party had taken action against corrupt practices.

"It is the Congress that brought in the Right to Information Act under which the common man has the right to ask any question from the government and the latter is bound to reply to it," he added.

On education, he said, "The rich can afford private schools but the poor need government schools and the Congress has laid a lot of emphasis on this sector."

Gandhi also addressed a poll campaign at Raha for party candidate Piyush Hazarika.

He was accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Pradesh Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita.