Modi kicks off assembly poll campaign in NE India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday kicked off his poll campaign in the northeastern state of Assam, saying that he was there to fight poverty.

"I am not fighting (Assam three-time Chief Minister Tarun) Gogoi but gareebi (poverty)," Modi said, addressing a huge political rally in the state's Tinsukia district.

"Assam is among the five poorest states in India. Assam was counted among the richest, who made it the poor? Development of Assam is my party's only agenda," he said.

Attempting to strike an instant chord with the people of Assam, which is famous for its tea, the Indian prime minister recalled his days as a tea-seller.

"It was your tea I sold to people and spent my childhood," he said amid cheers from the people who had gathered to get a glimpse of Modi.

Assam, which shares border with Bangladesh, is a strategically important for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that hopes to wrest power from the Congress party that is in power for 15 years now.

The BJP is projecting 53-year-old junior Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as its chief ministerial candidate against 79-year-old Gogoi.

The party had done well in the state during the 2014 general elections and is contesting 91 of the 126 assembly constituencies in Assam, hoping to form a government. Endit