BJP MLAs protest Karnataka minister’s comments on Assam semiconductor plant

PTI, Oct 1, 2024, 5:10 PM IST

Morigaon: Several BJP MLAs on Tuesday led a protest march in Assam’s Jagiroad town, where a Rs 27,000-crore semiconductor unit is coming up, against alleged objection by Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge for establishment of the plant.

Jagiroad MLA and Cabinet minister Pijush Hazarika led the protest, accompanied by about 10 other legislators of the ruling party.

“The Congress is not able to digest that a semiconductor industry has come to Assam. They are jealous and want what could not be achieved during their tenures should not happen even now,” Hazarika said.

Kharge, the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, recently claimed in an interview that semiconductor units are coming up in Gujarat and Assam because of “political clout”.

“Five semicon manufacturing units, four are in Gujarat, and one is in Assam, but they don’t have an ecosystem of skills there. They don’t have an ecosystem of research there. They don’t have an ecosystem of incubation. They don’t have a system of ecosystem of innovations when 70 per cent of the chip designing talent lies in Karnataka.

“I don’t understand why the government wants to push to another state by using political clout. That is unfair,” he had shared in an extract from the interview on X.

Hazarika claimed that Kharge’s comments were an insult to the people of the state and the Karnataka minister should apologise for it, failing which state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi have to tender apologies.

“People have come out to our call to protest Kharge’s comments,” he added.

The Jagiroad MLA also demanded that Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi, under whose Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency the area falls, should clarify his stand.

“Pradyut Bordoloi must speak up now for his constituency and clarify his position,” the BJP minister said.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also earlier criticised Kharge for his comments.

Taking to X, he had said, “Once again, Congress shows its true colours by opposing Assam’s development. A Karnataka minister, who is also the son of the Congress national president, claims that Assam has no right to host a semiconductor industry! “I urge Assam Congress leaders to reject this divisive thinking and stand up for Assam’s rightful growth and progress,” Sarma added.

Tata Group is coming up with a Rs 26,000-crore semiconductor plant at Jagiroad in Assam’s Morigaon district.