Development in Northeast slipped during Congress rule: Amit Shah

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah claimed that development of the Northeast took a back seat at the time of the Congress Party's governments here.

Shah, who was in Guwahati to lay the foundation stones of 19 new cancer centers, said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the region will soon emerge as the highest contributor to India's GDP.

"Northeast India for most of the time was under Congress rule. The region was one of the highest contributors to GDP prior to independence, but this changed during the Congress' rule here. Assam is developing fast and two years of BJP rule under Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has surpassed what Congress did in last 15 years in Assam," he said.

The project, promoted by the Assam Cancer Care Foundation, is a joint initiative of the state government and Tata Trusts.

Under the project, a three-tier cancer care grid will reportedly be established in Assam with a corpus of Rs 2,200 crore to be shared on an equal basis by state government and Tata Trusts.

Along with Shah, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Tata Emeritus Ratan Tata were also present at the event.