Nagaon bypoll: Congress slams BJP over convoy with leaders attacked in Assam

Gaurav Gogoi said stones and bottles were thrown at vehicles carrying him and Bhupesh Baghel during campaign travel, while Himanta Sarma blamed congress rivals.

The Congress on Tuesday alleged that its leaders were attacked while campaigning for the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll in Assam, where they allegedly met with “Go Back” slogans and black-flag protests before stones, bottles and other objects were allegedly hurled at their vehicles.

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel, APCC president Gaurav Gogoi, party MP Rakibul Hussain and party candidate Sibamoni Bora. (PTI)

Congress leader Naseer Hussain argued that the incident was part of a broader Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pattern of intimidating the Opposition leaders and discouraging voters from participating in the electoral process.

“Is there any doubt about who is behind this attack? It is absolutely clear— this is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s pattern…Attack senior leaders, pelt stones at them, injure them, so that the leadership at the lower levels and the workers become afraid and do not participate in the election process, and voters do not come out to vote,” Hussain said.

These remarks came after Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi alleged that BJP workers attacked the convoy carrying former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Gogoi himself among others while they were travelling to an election rally on Monday. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hit back at the Congress, calling it a “clash between rival factions within the Congress itself” and urging the party’s state leadership to take responsibility for its internal differences.