New Delhi: Himanta Biswa Sarma, who ended his decades long association with the Congress and joined Bharatiya Janata Party last year, has said that Congress has internal pathological dislike for party vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Sarma, entrusted by the BJP with the responsibility to manage the campaign for the crucial 2016 Assam Assembly Elections, accused Rahul of acting like God, who doesn't know how to resolve the critical issues within state leaderships.
The Congress rebel and now BJP in-charge made the sarcastic comments against the Gandhi scion while speaking exclusively to English news channel NDTV.
"I couldn't reconcile myself to Rahul's policies hence I defected from the Congress,” Sarma asserted.
The BJP leader, who was long held as a trusted lieutenant of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, came down heavily on the Congress vice president, saying Rahul has blatantly encouraged blue blood culture in Assam.
“In 2006, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal became very communal and we had a meting with senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who said that Congress will never have an alliance with the AIUDF. However, later Rahul developed friendship with that party, which I wasn't able to reconcile,” Sarma said.
While launching a scathing attack on the Amethi MP, the BJP in-charge for Assam polls said, “I have spoken to Rahul 7-8 times, he is an arrogant person without intellectual gravity and soundness. He just comes and says that he knows everything about everyone and one would have to fall in line as it his decision.”
Laying credentials to his claims, Sarma narrated a particular incident. He said: “One day I met Rahul along with Anjan Dutta, the president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. On a personal note, the party vice president asked me about my opinion on Dutta's elevation. I told him he won't be able to lead Congress' election campaign. But to my shock, the next moment he had a word with Datta and when the Congress state president came out of the room, he asked me as to what did I tell Rahul regarding him. I told him it was a confidential discussion.”
Divulging more reasons for deserting Congress, the BJP leader said: “I was in two minds. I met Sonia Gandhi and many other Congress leaders and tried to explore whether there was anything for me in the party. Then suddenly one day CP Joshi called me, Datta and Gogoi to the national capital. I thought this meeting would cut the ice. However, in the meeting both Gogoi and Joshi started fighting with each other. Rahul, who was present there, did not try to stop them, but encouraged them. He (Rahul) was not conducting the meeting the way he should have...he was busy with a dog.”
“As all this was going on suddenly the little dog started eating the biscuits from the plates our table. And to my astonishment, Rahul didn't stop the pet, but encouraged the canine. After I came out, I told Gogoi that it would be impossible for me to continue in the Congress.”
Sarma, however, further said that there is a genuine fondness for Sonia within the party, but there is no respect for Rahul.
