Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (United) president H.D. Deve Gowda has lamented the fact that the ruling BJP at the Centre didn’t bother to invite him for yesterday’s inauguration of the country’s longest and Asia’s second longest rail-cum-road bridge connecting the Dibrugarh and Dhemaji Districts of Assam.

Foundation stone for the Bogibeel Bridge, constructed at a whopping cost of Rs.5900 crores and which took 16 long years, was actually laid by Deve Gowda during his brief tenure as Prime Minister in 1997. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 4.9-km long bridge across Brahmaputra River, giving a Christmas gift to the people in Assam in particular and in the north-eastern region in general.

“When I was the prime-minister, I sanctioned projects such as Kashmir railway line, the Delhi Metro Rail service and the Bogibeel bridge. I remember sanctioning Rs.100 crore to each of these projects to start with and laying the foundation stones as well. People and the rulers of today have forgotten this, which is bad,” Gowda remarked.

To a specific query as to whether he was invited for the inauguration of the rail-cum-road bridge, Gowda shot back saying nobody remembered (him) except for some newspapers. The new bridge, which can carry jets and tanks easily, is likely to cut down travel time considerably between its connecting points.