Congress’ top brass, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, during the close-door meet in Azara. (AT Photo)
Guwahati, July 16: As Congress top leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge held a closed-door meeting with the party’s Assam unit’s Political Affairs Committee in a city hotel on Wednesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ignited a political firestorm by claiming that the Opposition party discussed sending him to jail.
Taking to social media, Sarma alleged that Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi assured party workers behind closed doors that the Chief Minister would face arrest.
“Take it in writing, Himanta Biswa Sarma will definitely be sent to jail’ – these were the exact words spoken by the Leader of the Opposition, Shri Rahul Gandhi, during his closed-door meeting with the Congress Political Affairs Committee in Assam…,” the Chief Minister posted on a micro-blogging platform.
Sarma didn’t stop there. Hitting back at Gandhi, he took a jibe at the Congress MP’s legal battles.
“He came all the way to Assam just to say this, conveniently forgetting that he himself is out on bail in multiple criminal cases registered across the country. My best wishes to you, Rahul ji. Enjoy the hospitality of Assam for the rest of the day,” Sarma wrote.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had often claimed that he knows exactly what is discussed in Congress’s closed-door meetings.
Meanwhile, the Congress used the occasion to project itself as the defender of indigenous rights and democratic dissent.
APCC president Gaurav Gogoi, addressing the press at Guwahati Airport ahead of Gandhi and Kharge’s arrival, said the party was gearing up for a strong and focused battle.
“The Congress will fight for the people of Assam – for land pattas for indigenous people, the protection of cultural identity, and the rights of religious and linguistic minorities. Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi are here to tell the people – ‘daro mat’ (fear not), the Congress stands with you,” Gogoi said.
He accused the Sarma-led BJP government of grabbing land across the state, claiming that the Chief Minister and his cabinet now own the highest amount of land in Assam.
“They have not spared a single district – there are resorts near elephant corridors in Kaziranga, orchards and hotels set up illegally, and industries built on agricultural land in the names of ministers’ wives,” he alleged.
Gogoi further claimed that nearly 50,000 bighas of land belonging to indigenous and minority communities had been handed over to outsiders.
“There is no land security – whether in Upper Assam, Lower Assam, the Barak Valley, or even the hills of Guwahati,” he said.
The war of words between the BJP and Congress signals a heated run-up to the 2026 polls, with land rights, governance, and political accountability emerging as flashpoints.