Let Himanta speak on plans for next 5 yrs, not 10-year-old issue: Priyanka Gandhi

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on February 20 hit out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, saying he should speak about jobs, development and his plans for the next five years instead of raising a “10-year-old” issue about his alleged chance of becoming a Congress chief minister.

Addressing reporters, Vadra dismissed Sarma’s recent claims that he was once on the verge of being sworn in as Assam’s Congress chief minister in 2014. “There are many decisions taken in politics. Some go in favour, some against. We have to bear with it. What would I say if he is still crying over the 10-year-old issue,” she remarked.

Earlier this week, Sarma had alleged that then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked him to decide on the date for his swearing-in after 58 MLAs backed him in 2014. He claimed the situation changed after Rahul Gandhi, who was in the United States at the time, made calls to party leaders.

The Assam Congress had witnessed internal dissidence after the 2011 Assembly elections, with a section of MLAs supporting Sarma as chief minister in place of the incumbent, Tarun Gogoi. Sarma later quit the Congress in 2015 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, playing a key role in the party’s first Assembly election victory in Assam in 2016.

Vadra said the chief minister should instead focus on governance issues. “Let him speak about Assam’s development. Let him tell the people what he has done and what he plans to do in the next five years. The youth want to know,” she said.

She further alleged corruption and accused the state government of concentrating wealth in “one family” and handing over Assam’s assets to big industrialists. “People can see how Assam’s assets are being handed over. These belong to the people of Assam. The land being given away is public property,” she claimed.

Appealing particularly to young voters and women, Vadra urged them to back what she described as “positive politics” centred on strengthening the state. “You have seen how much corruption has taken place. This corruption is a betrayal of the people of Assam. They are realising that the time has come for a change,” she added.