GUWAHATI: The Congress slammed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for conspiring to break the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra at a time when the people of Assam are suffering in devastating floods.
Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah alleged some 40 MLAs of Maharashtra were held to ransom in Guwahati. He criticised Sarma for his indulgence in the “shameful” act.
“CM Assam @himantabiswa should concentrate on his own job and provide adequate relief and rehabilitation and help the flood-affected people of Assam. He can do his politicking in happier times not now when people are crying for @mygovassam help,” Borah tweeted.
Eknath Shinde, who is leading the group of Shiv Sena rebels, claimed he has 40 MLAs with him.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, the Sena MLAs arrived at the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport in Guwahati in a chartered flight from Surat in Gujarat. Sources said the flight had 89 people on board, including cabin crew.
The MLAs were received by Assam BJP MP Pallab Lochan Das and party MLA Sushanta Borgohain. Later, they were taken to Radisson Blu, a five-star hotel in the city, in three buses under police protection. An IPS officer led the police team.
Shinde briefly spoke to journalists outside the airport.
“There are 40 MLAs here. I don’t want to criticise anyone. We want to carry forward Balasaheb’s Hindutva,” he said.
It was learnt Shinde had a meeting with the fellow MLAs at the hotel. Borgohain said he had no knowledge about it. He expressed ignorance also on reports that the Assam CM visited the hotel prior to the arrival of the MLAs.
Sarma is widely known for his political acumen. He is one politician who can make or break a government. He successfully spearheaded many such missions in the Northeast.
In the 2017 Manipur elections, the BJP had won 21 seats as against the Congress’ 28 in the 60-member House but Sarma managed to cobble up the numbers for the party to eventually help it form a coalition government.
A few years ago, most MLAs of the ruling People’s Party of Arunachal had defected to the BJP and form a BJP government. Sarma had played a key role in it.