No Hindu will be left in Assam Congress by 2026, predicts Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched a scathing attack on the Congress party and predicted that there would be no Hindu in the Congress party in Assam by 2026.

Asserting that more and more Congress leaders would join the BJP, Mr Sarma said, “By 2026, there will be no more Hindus in the Assam Congress and almost all the Muslims will leave the Congress by 2032. We will open a branch at Rajiv Bhawan as Mahanagar BJP.”

Assam chief minister said, “A meeting of the Prabharis of 126 assembly constituencies was held at the state BJP headquarters in Guwahati. Three members of Congress joined the BJP on Saturday. Others will join the BJP on Sunday.”

Known for his anti-Muslim remarks in past Mr Sarma also spoke about the welfare of Muslim society in the state. “I am trying to work to reform their society. Many Muslim youths are supporting me, as you can see on Facebook and they all welcome this. No one opposes it," he said while claiming that the BJP will win the Jorhat seat which has come into focus after Congress party fielded its firebrand leader Gaurav Gogoi against the sitting BJP MP Tapan Kumar Gogoi. "A section is trying to create an atmosphere against us, but the ground reality is different," he added.

Mr Sarma who is leaving no stone unturned to maintain the hype said, "The BJP will take the lead in 105 out of 126 assembly constituencies in the state. I am very confident that people will vote for us for the development work done by the government.”

Meanwhile three Congress leaders of Assam, including a state committee general secretary, resigned from the party on Saturday and joined the ruling BJP.

Two of them were known to be close associates of the party candidate from Jorhat, Gaurav Gogoi, who is the deputy leader of opposition in the outgoing Lok Sabha, while the third was a top leader of the Charaideo district party unit.

Mr Manash Borah, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) general secretary, in his resignation letter to the party national president, said he was quitting to explore new opportunities.

APCC secretary Gauravv Somani, in his resignation to the state party chief, said that one of the primary reasons for his decision was "unsatisfactory leadership presently within the Assam Congress, which has regrettably failed to effectively address the pressing issues faced by the people of the state".

Leader of Charaideo district Congress committee Anuj Barkataky also quit the party and joined the BJP.

Mr Manash Borah and Mr Anuj Barkataky are sons of former Congress ministers in the state, and along with Mr Somani, were key leaders in Gogoi's campaign in the Jorhat constituency.