‘Rahul Gandhi is a mad man, how can he become PM?’: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has hit back at Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi over his remark that Sarma would go to jail if Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister, questioning how Gandhi could become PM while calling him a “mad man”.

Sarma said election campaigns should focus on votes and issues concerning the people rather than discussions about jail.

“When elections come, one should think about votes, not jail,” Sarma said, responding to Gogoi’s remarks.

"There is no election in the next 9 months; how will the election take place? I want to know the formula...the election is in 2029, and Rahul Gandhi is a madman; how can he become the PM," said the Assam CM.

He said political leaders should instead talk about roads, schools, colleges and welfare schemes such as Orunodoi.

Taking a swipe at Gogoi and Gandhi, Sarma said, “Gaurav Gogoi and Rahul Gandhi talk about jail whenever elections come.”

He further said that prisoners do not vote and that it is the general public that decides elections.

“Prisoners in jail do not vote. The general public votes,” Sarma said.

Gogoi, who is Assam Congress president, had on October 2 claimed that a case would be filed against Sarma “the very next day” if Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister and alleged that the Assam Chief Minister would subsequently go to jail.

Sarma had also previously referred to Rahul Gandhi as a “mad person” while responding to his criticism of the arrest of Congress’s Nandigram bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan.

The latest exchange comes amid an increasingly combative political campaign in Assam ahead of the Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll.