Gaurav Gogoi’s standard of talking has deteriorated, says Himanta Biswa Sarma

NAGAON: The Assam assembly elections are over, but the hangover of bickering appears to continue with political bigwigs. BJP star campaigner Himanta Biswa Sarma is not even willing to hear the name Congress MP from Kaliabor Gaurav Gogoi.

Casting his vote at Jalukbari, Sarma took off for Kaziranga National Park for a night stay to “take rest”. On his way, the BJP top gun dropped in at the newly commissioned Maha Mrityunjay Temple at Bherveri in Nagaon district to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva.

But, as usual, scribes caught hold of him at the temple too. He was all smiles answering various questions till one of the journalists pronounced the name Gaurav Gogoi.

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“Look, Gaurav Gogoi’s standard of talking has deteriorated drastically. It’s unbecoming of an educated youth like him. If he keeps taunting me, I’ll also have to open my mouth some day. And, then people will say Himanta Biswa Sarma should not have said like this. So, I would like to advise him that one should live up to his limitations,” Sarma said.

Asked about the BJP’s prospects in the elections so far, he said: “As far as the first phase is concerned, we will win 35 to 40 seats. In the second phase we will win 23 to 26 seats. About the third phase, I’ll be assess only tonight.”

He also said the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) has a thin possibility of winning only one seat. “I would say BPF will not win any seat. But, there is a neck-to-neck fight with us in one seat. But, even if they win one seat, the MLA will switch loyalty to us,” the key BJP campaigner said.

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BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary this morning said the BPF would win all the eight seats of Bodoland Territorial Region, including Tamulpur where its party candidate defected to the BJP, that went to polls today.

Asked about the COVID-19 situation in the state, Sarma, who spearheaded the battle against the pandemic since last year, said: “The surge is not alarming as of now. We did not impose lockdown when there were 3500 cases detected a day. Now, it’s only about 60-70 cases a day. Of that, 35 are diagonised at the airports. We are getting a very good result by conducting tests at airports and railway stations. If people don’t insist for relaxation in the tests, we can certainly live healthy here.”

“Besides, the question of lockdown cannot arise in view of the fact that we have the Bihu. The financial condition of the artistes is quite pathetic. So, we will have to celebrate Bihu in a big way this time,” he added.

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Spending about 40 minutes at the temple, Sarma, accompanied by Mangaldoi MP and BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia, took off for Kaziranga.