'Get the facts right': Assam CM blames Congress infighting, denies state role in violence

A heated political exchange erupted today when Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directly challenged Congress's allegations about recent violence against opposition politicians in the state.

The controversy centres on an attack against Congressman Pradyut Bordoloi, which Congress leadership had characterised as part of a pattern of state-sponsored intimidation during ongoing Panchayat elections.

"Before making sweeping and baseless allegations against the Government of Assam, it is important to get the facts right," Sarma wrote, responding to earlier accusations from Congress MP KC Venugopal.

According to the Chief Minister, police investigations identified the attacker as Md. Emdadul Islam, allegedly a Congress worker disgruntled after being denied a party ticket in local elections.

"This incident was purely the outcome of internal factionalism and infighting within the Congress Party, specifically resulting from a dispute between supporters of two Congress MPs," Sarma stated.

The Chief Minister's response came after Venugopal claimed on April 27 that "Assam is under the grip of state-sponsored Gonda Raj today, with the Congress and opponents of the Himanta regime as their prime targets."

Venugopal had cited attacks on multiple Congress representatives, including Bordoloi, MLA Sibamoni Bora, and MP Rakibul Hossain, as evidence of systematic violence against opposition figures.

"None of this politics of violence and intimidation will deter us from fighting the rotten, corrupt and violent Assam regime every single day," Venugopal had declared in his original statement.