Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that the country moved in reverse direction for 75 years due to the "non-performance” of the Congress party.

He also dubbed the grand old party as “old currency notes”.

The chief minister claimed that the Northeast “barely saw development” under Congress rule and said that it is now marching towards prosperity under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Congress has turned into old currency notes, which people don't want to touch because they are of no use," he said at a by-election campaign rally of the BJP at Agartala assembly constituency on Sunday.

The BJP has fielded senior leader Ashok Sinha from the seat, who is set to take on Congress heavyweight candidate Sudip Roy Barman.

"The country stepped backwards for 75 years because of Congress's non-performance. For a Rajdhani Express, Tripura had to wait for so many years. Now, the northeast is marching ahead towards prosperity," the Assam CM said.

Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb was also present at the rally.

CM Sarma arrived in Agartala on Sunday morning to the campaign trail, however, he couldn’t address two scheduled rallies in North Tripura and Dhalai districts, for by-elections to Yubarajnagar and Surma assembly constituencies respectively, due to inclement weather.

Further, he quipped that the Congress had been losing elections one after another since 2014.

"Have you heard of the Congress winning any election in the past 10 years? Be it Assam or Uttar Pradesh or Uttarakhand, the BJP is winning all battles of ballots under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership," he stated.

Sarma also highlighted the BJP-led government's welfare schemes for the underprivileged, asserting that the poor "are now being given free rice as well as free vaccination".

By-polls to four assembly segments are scheduled to be held on June 23. Counting of votes will take place on June 26.