Cattle smuggling taking place in Assam under state protection: Baghel

Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on Wednesday launched a scathing attack againsthis Assam counterpart Sarbananda Sonowal, alleging that cattlesmuggling is taking place in the state under administrativeprotection.

The BJP governments at the Centre and Assam are run by''double engines pulling each other in opposite directionsaffecting development'', the senior Congress leader said.

''It is unfortunate that Sonowal's five-year 'dummygovernment' has created a dangerous situation with cattlesmuggling taking place under the protection of the stategovernment,'' he told reporters here.

Baghel claimed that beef consumption has increased inBangladesh by 211 per cent between 2016 and 2018 due to thecontinuous supply of cattle to the neighbouring country.

He said besides cattle smuggling, strong syndicatesare also operating for the supply of coal, stones, bamboo,betel leaves and nuts and even fish.

The BJP had promised to create 2 crore jobs butunemployment has grown by over 4 lakh from 2016-2020 and thesituation has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic period, hesaid.

The Sonowal government has failed to increase theminimum daily wages of tea garden workers but Congress leaderRahul Gandhi has already announced that the party willincrease it to Rs 365, Baghel said.

''The Congress waived farm loans within two hours ofcoming to power in Chhattisgarh. We fulfil our promises. Thetime has come to bid farewell to the Sonowal government,''Baghel said.

Chhattisgarh has shown that when money is put into thepockets of the common people, the wheel of development movesforward and there is no recession. This model will beimplemented in Assam, he said.

The people of Assam are regretting that they had votedthe BJP to power and ''our alliance of six parties will formthe next government'', Baghel added.

Election to the 126-member assembly is due in March-April.