India, Feb. 15 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stepped up the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) campaign for a third consecutive term in Assam with a sharp political attack on the Congress, while the Union cabinet in New Delhi separately cleared a Rs.18,662-crore underwater tunnel project - the first of its kind in the country - for the state.

The approval of the tunnel coincided with Modi's day-long visit to the poll-bound state, where he inaugurated the Northeast's first emergency landing facility (ELF) and framed the upcoming election as a clash between two distinct eras.

The 15.79 km tunnel project, described as a strategic and economic game-changer, anchors the ruling party's pitch to voters: that only it can modernise the...