Guwahati, Jul 16 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday asserted that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the state “solely to criticise” him, but the MP elevated his political stature to a level where he might not have reached had he remained in the Congress.
Sarma, who joined the BJP from Congress in 2015, also said that the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha mentioned his name repeatedly in all his meetings during his day-long visit to the state.
“I must say, I am grateful—because today, he has elevated my political stature to a level I might never have reached had I remained in the Congress party,” the chief minister said in a post on X.
The BJP leader said it was indeed a day of great satisfaction.
“After all, if Rahul Gandhi has chosen to criticise me, it is a clear sign that I must be doing something right for the people of Assam,” Sarma said.
While addressing a party meeting at Chaygaon, around 40 km from here, Gandhi claimed that Sarma thinks he is a ‘raja’, but he will be put in jail by the people for corruption.
Ahead of the event at Chaygaon, Sarma said in an X post that Gandhi had made the same assertion in a closed-door party meeting earlier in the day in Guwahati and expressed “best wishes” for the Congress leader.
He did not elaborate on how he knew about Gandhi’s comment.
“The CM thinks he is ‘raja’, but he will be in jail not long before. He and his family will be held accountable for corruption; The Congress won’t put him in jail, people will,” Gandhi said at the meeting at Chaygaon.
Fear writ large in the chief minister as he knows fearless Congress workers will put him in jail, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha asserted.
Earlier in the day, Sarma posted on X: “‘Take it in writing, Himanta Biswa Sarma will definitely be sent to jail’ — these were the exact words spoken by the Leader of the Opposition, Shri Rahul Gandhi, during his closed-door meeting with the Congress Political Affairs Committee in Assam.” Sarma also said the Congress leader has “conveniently forgotten” that he himself is out on bail in multiple criminal cases registered across the country.
”My best wishes to you, Rahul ji. Enjoy the hospitality of Assam for the rest of the day,” he added. PTI DG SSG DG NN
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