Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma remains in the news for his outspoken statements. On Tuesday, he told the story of not being able to become the Chief Minister while being in Congress. Sarma said, in the year 2014, he had the support of 58 MLAs, the then Congress President Sonia Gandhi had asked him to fix the date of taking oath as the Chief Minister of the Congress, but due to the interference of Rahul Gandhi, he could not become the Congress Chief Minister in Assam.
There was opposition within the Congress after the 2011 assembly elections in Assam, when a group of MLAs supported Sarma as the Chief Minister in place of the then CM Tarun Gogoi. Sarma left Congress and joined BJP in 2015. After this, BJP had registered its first victory in the assembly elections held in the state, in which his role is considered important.
The Assam CM said, ‘Madam (Sonia Gandhi), whom I still call by that name, had asked me to fix the date and I had told her that I will take oath after the Ambubachi fair at the Kamakhya temple in June (2014).’ Sarma further said that at that time Rahul Gandhi had gone on a visit to America, he called the party leaders and the whole situation changed.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said, I was sad due to the sudden change of decision, but I believe that whatever happens in someone’s life, it happens for the good, God has given me more than what I would have got if I was in Congress. He said that as BJP CM, I got the opportunity to serve both Assam and Sanatan Dharma, which would not have been possible by staying in Congress. Sarma said that if he ever writes a book in future, he will tell about these incidents in detail.
