Varun Gandhi being felicitated at the rally on Thursday. Picture By. Pronib Das.

Sepon (Sivasagar), Sept. 30: BJP MP Varun Gandhi tried to woo tea voters during a rally here, announcing that if voted to power the BJP would bring in an act to ensure that tea workers in the state got nothing less than Rs 100 as daily wages.

Earlier on Wednesday, BJP national president Nitin Gadkari kicked off the party’s poll campaign for the next state Assembly elections during a rally at Nagaon.

Today’s rally, attended by around 3,000 people, was organised at Sepon High School playground, a place surrounded by four constituencies, namely Mahmora, Moran, Thowra and Sonari — all dominated by tea voters.

State BJP president Ranjit Dutta, party MLAs Prasanta Phukon and Rameswar Teli and other national and state leaders attended the rally.

Referring to the plight of the tea workers in the state, Varun said it was a sad fact that the tea workers of the state were getting less than Rs 70 per day whereas the minimum wage for all NREGA workers was Rs 100 per day.

“I can very well understand that the pathetic condition of the tea workers and their families in Assam. They have been living in sub-human conditions for several decades and centuries now. But let me assure you that if the BJP is voted to power, we will bring an act to ensure that the tea workers get Rs 100 per day as wages,” Varun said amid thundering applause from the crowd, a majority of whom were from the tea community.

Varun also brought up the issue of price rise and blamed the Congress for continuously exploiting the poor.

“The 10 years of Congress tenure in Assam had ruined the state. There is no hope for the poor. Even Congress workers are frustrated with the way their leaders are functioning. The leaders are growing rich everyday and the workers are getting nothing,” Varun added.

Varun also criticised the AGP, saying the regional party had also failed to deliver during its two terms when the people of Assam had shown their confidence in it.

“Aap ne haath ko bhi vote de diya, hathi ko bhi de diya, dono ne aap ko dhoka diya, is liye is baar BJP ko jitaye (You have given your vote to the hand, the Congress symbol, and elephant, the AGP symbol, but both betrayed you. So I appeal to you to ensure a BJP victory),” Varun said.

He also addressed a party rally at Chabua in Dibrugarh district. He will be addressing another rally at Naharkatia tomorrow before flying back to Delhi via Dibrugarh.