GUWAHATI: Isolated within the BJP for his intemperate utterances, Assam MP Ram Prasad Sarmah has done it again. A day after the Sarbananda Sonowal government unveiled the tourism policy on Thursday, the Tezpur MP advised the state government to first educate the ministers about tourism before sending them abroad to try and woo tourists.
To increase foreign tourist inflow, the Chief Minister plans to hold roadshows in the US, Canada and South-East Asian countries, which will also see the participation of some of his ministers.
Sarmah welcomed the move but said if the ministers lacked knowledge about tourism, their visits to foreign countries would only be personal sojourn. He also laid thrust on building tourism infrastructure in the state.
Bollywood diva Priyanka Chopra has been roped in as the brand ambassador of Assam tourism.
The BJP had recently advised the motormouth MP not to needlessly open his mouth, particularly before the media. The advice followed his allegation in a sting video by a local news channel that most ministers in the state were in the habit of demanding 10 per cent commission from contractors for every work awarded.
The charge had made the Congress go all guns blazing at the BJP, which heads a three-party coalition government. A red-faced Sonowal had asked Sarmah to substantiate his allegation, promising that he would go hard at the corrupt.
Despite his propensity to land the party in awkward situations, Sarmah is not ready to quit the BJP. He earlier rejected the overtures of the Congress, which has opened its doors for him. “I have been associated with the BJP for decades. The BJP is like my mother and I will keep speaking up on issues to protect its interests,” he said.
The lawyer-turned-MP has earned the reputation of being loose cannon. He had once asserted that given a chance, he would solve the Kashmir problem within three months. On another occasion, he triggered a row by stating that the Assam government should reclaim Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur that was leased out to the neighbouring state in the 60s.