GUWAHATI, March 31 -- Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused the Congress of treating Assam in a "step-motherly manner" for decades and urged state voters to punish the party in the April 9 assembly election by not voting for it. He was addressing an election meeting to seek support for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates at Tezpur and Dergaon.

Singh blamed the Congress for encouraging illegal infiltrators and said that the current BJP state government under Himanta Biswa Sarma is making efforts to drive them out.

"Assam has got a new recognition under 10 years of BJP rule. Congress governments always treated Assam in a step-motherly manner and neglected it. It kept Assam not j...