Rahul Gandhi does not have 'systematic seriousness', but wants to have power without responsibility: Assam CM Himanta Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Rahul Gandhi is on Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari but has failed to convey his vision for the country.

Image courtesy: ANI (file pic)

New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of being non-serious as a politician, behaving like "a feudal lord" and being arrogant. The Assam CM said that Rahul Gandhi "does not have systematic seriousness" but wants to have power without responsibility while talking to ANI. Sarma, who was in Congress for over two decades, said he had told the party`s leadership that they will lose the northeast without a course correction. 

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who joined BJP in 2015, further said, "The first thing is he is not fit for politics. Probably, the work he should not do, he is doing," adding that Rahul Gandhi can sometimes leave a meeting in between and go for his exercise routine like jogging or suddenly go to the next room and come after half an hour. 

Sarma said, "Rahul has taken moral responsibility that the party lost the Lok Sabha elections under my leadership, so I will not be the president. But who is running the party today, who is leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra? Who is the whole party running after? That means you want to enjoy the power without accountability. In a democracy, when somebody wants to enjoy the power without parliamentary accountability, without party accountability, without the accountability of the people, that is the most dangerous thing." 

"You are not Congress president but you take all the decisions. If you are not Congress president, taken up moral responsibility after losing the election, why entire party is behind you now," ANI quoted the Assam CM as saying. 

Sarma said that Rahul Gandhi is on Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari but has failed to convey his vision for the country, adding "They (Gandhi family) go to the poor people, but do the poor come to their house? Have you ever seen Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi having dinner with poor people at the same dining table." 

He further said that Congress has an ecosystem where only the Gandhi family matters, adding "I must give credit to Congress party, they create an environment that beyond Gandhi family you have nothing. When someone resigns from the party, the Congress spokesperson says he has betrayed the family, they will not say he has betrayed the nation. They will say that the family gave you everything but the fact is that the people of the nation give power. But they create a buzz that family had made you MP. This is the environment of Congress."

"The day you join Congress...the Congress has an inside culture that your life starts and ends with Gandhi(s). Like you get attached to any guru, you just surrender everything to that guru. There is an atmosphere. I don`t know who started this, who will end but this ecosystem is very strong in Congress." the Assam CM said. Notably, Sarma also added that a lot of people will come to the BJP from Congress. 

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday entered Tamil Nadu from Kerala, nearly 22 days after launching the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Kanyakumari. He alleged that Governors were being used to "topple" the opposition-ruled states while addressing a rally in Gudalur on Thursday evening.  

The Congress leader accused the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre of 'using' the offices of the Governors to target the non-BJP ruled states in the country and claimed that it was pursuing its agenda of thrusting a one-nation, one language policy on the country. The DMK government in Tamil Nadu has been at loggerheads with Governor R N Ravi over several issues, including its Anti-NEET bill, seeking to exempt the state's students from the ambit of the entrance test. 

(With ANI/PTI Inputs)