Tingkhong (Dibrugarh), March 31: BJP leader L.K. Advani today sent a strong message to the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government, saying that if voted to power it would initiate impartial inquiry and ensure exemplary punishment to all the “scamsters” who have allegedly “swallowed” several thousand crores of rupees.

Speaking at a election rally attended by around 5,000 people at Tingkhong Gandhi Maidan in Tingkhong constituency in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district, Advani said strict measures would be initiated irrespective of what positions the person concerned had occupied during Congress rule.

“Corruption has crossed all barriers in the country because of the misrule of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government at the Centre. The same is the case with the Tarun Gogoi government in Assam. Gogoi has maligned the image of the beautiful state by not only indulging in corruption but also promoting it during the last 10 years of Congress rule in Assam,” Advani said.

Earlier, the veteran leader reached the meeting venue along with NDA co-ordinator and president of Janata Dal (United) Sharad Yadav, BJP national general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan, Guwahati MP and party vice-president Bijoya Chakravarty and member of the party’s national executive Sarbananda Sonowal in a Pawan Hans helicopter at 1.10pm.

Tingkhong, a rural constituency in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district, is witnessing a three-cornered fight between sitting AGP legislator Anup Phukon, former minister of state for PWD Etuwa Munda and BJP’s Dipu Ranjan Makrary, who recently joined the party after resigning from the post of president of the All-Assam Sonowal Kachari Students Union.

Advani said Assam would be developed into a model state if the BJP comes to power through proper utilisation of natural resources in the state. He also promised Scheduled Tribe status to communities who have been demanding the status in the state and are recognised as ST in other parts of the country.

JD (U) president Sharad Yadav, while mentioning that “a lootraj is going on both at the Centre as well as in Assam at the behest of the Congress”, urged people to vote for the BJP for “solid development of the state”.