GUWAHATI Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah has accused State’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of becoming ”acrimonious toward him out of fear”.
The ‘acrimony’ was making the Chief Minister target the members of his family too, Mr. Borah claimed, amid reports of more Congress leaders trying to join the BJP.
“I am certain that if there is one person in Assam that @HimantaBiswa truly fears, it is me. Why? Because his acrimonious behaviour towards me and my family betrays his innermost fears,” the Assam Congress chief posted on X on February 27.
Mr. Borah said the Chief Minister liked slaves, not followers. “Just see how he made former Cabinet Minister Basanta Das touch his feet,” he said.
On February 14, Mr. Das and another Congress MLA, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha declared their support to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi without quitting their party.
“HBS [Himanta Biswa Sarma] knows that his chair is his only till such time he continues to do ‘Tadipaar’s’ dirty tricks. He has seen the fates of Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, people who tried to toe an independent line. He can ‘buy’ a few MLAs here and there, but he cannot buy me,” Mr. Borah said.
‘Tadipaar’ is a term Congress uses for Home Minister Amit Shah.
Series of defections
There have been a series of defections from the Congress to the BJP since Rahul Gandhi started his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur on January 14. Among the leaders who defected was Dadu Taye, the former president of the Golaghat district unit of Congress, known to have been close to party MP Gaurav Gogoi, the Chief Minister’s bete noire.
Mr. Borah cited the transferring out of his brother and sister-in-law — both government servants — to two opposite corners of Assam as an example of the Chief Minister’s ‘acrimonious behaviour’ towards him and his family.
“People who physically attacked me during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra are being allowed to roam free. In a State where writing a poem of dissent, or a scathing tweet, can get you arrested. Just imagine an assailant walking about freely, without a care in the world!” he said.
He also said the State government has not responded to his appeal for increased security.
Since the 2021 Assembly elections, six of 29 MLAs have either quit or rebelled against the Congress. The Chief Minister told journalists that the Congress would be left with only four to five MLAs, indicating only Muslims would end up representing the grand old party.
“By 2026, Congress will have people like Rakibul Hussain, Rekibuddin Ahmed, Zakir Hussain Sikdar, and Nurul Huda,” he said.
On Wednesday, former MLA Rana Goswami resigned as the working president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. He is likely to join the BJP.
