Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that “there will be no one from the Hindu community in the Congress after 2026 and no Muslims by 2032”. Sarma said he believed that the “Congress will be finished by 2032”.
He made the remarks at a press conference on Tuesday after Union Minister and former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal filed his nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the Dibrugarh seat.
In Dibrugarh, Sonowal is pitted against Assam Jatiya Parishad’s (AJP) Lurinjyoti Gogoi.
“You might have noticed the speed at which members of the Congress have switched sides to the BJP. If you take this into consideration, there will be chairs and rooms at the Rajiv Bhawan, but there won’t be any person to occupy it,” Sarma said while referring to the Congress headquarters in Guwahati.
“This is the present scenario in Assam. The situation fast-forwarded after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. The Congress will be finished by 2032, this is what I think,” he added.
The Chief Minister’s latest jibe against the Congress came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Assam which will be held in three phases on April 19, 26 and May 7.
The NDA alliance in the state is contesting in all the 14 constituencies. The BJP has announced candidates in 11 seats while its partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will contest in two seats and the United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL) in one.
The Congress, a constituent of the 16-party United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA), will contest 12 seats and left the Dibrugarh seat for the AJP. There has been no decision yet for the Lakhimpur seat.
The key seats in Assam are Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kaziranga, Guwahati, Dhubri, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Barpeta and Silchar.
(With inputs by Ajay More and Gopal Thakur)