Guwahati, May 20: The Congress today accused Assam industry minister Chandra Mohan Patowary of "deceiving people and claiming credit" for the industries that were set during their tenure in the state.

The criticism came a day after Patowary held a news conference to announce the achievements and steps taken by his department over the past year. Patowary said since the BJP came to power in May 2016, Assam has attracted investments worth Rs 6,499.75 crore from 2,317 units, besides generating around 40,000 employment both directly and indirectly. Of these units, there are 124 medium and large units with an investment of Rs 5,881.6 crore.

"Patowary has deceived the people of Assam because 99 per cent of the industrial units, which he had claimed to be set up during the BJP's one-year tenure, were set up between 2006 and 2009 under the supervision of then chief minister Tarun Gogoi and industry minister Pradyut Bordoloi," Kishor Kumar Bhattacharya, senior spokesperson of the Assam PCC, said today.

He alleged that the Centre had affected the state's industrial scenario by discontinuing the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP), which was passed by the UPA government in 2007.

"After coming to power at the Centre in 2014, the Narendra Modi government had discontinued the NEIIPP because of which no major industry could be set up till 2016. After the BJP came to power in Assam last year, the policy was resumed from December 2016 to March 2017 to pave the way for yoga guru Ramdev to set up Patanjali's unit at Sonitpur," Bhattacharya said.

Bhupen Kumar Borah, AICC secretary from Assamtook to Twitter to mock Patowary's claim. "Met few industrialist friends today. This is what they said: 'Look East became Act East but nothing to Kickstart Northeast'," he tweeted.