Two days after an FIR was lodged against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for provoking the crowd during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Sarma has said the grand old party's main aim was to destabilise the state, adding that the former Congress president would ve arrested after the Lok Sabha polls.
Speaking to the media, Sarma said, "The main aim was to destabilize Assam. Now he wants to do Nyay Yatra in Dhubri. Do it, I have no objection. We will arrest him after the Lok Sabha election. If we arrest him before that, it will be politicised. Now the case has been registered, SIT will investigate, and we have evidence. Yesterday, a big incident could have happened in Guwahati after he instigated people to break barricades. We don't want to do politics before the Lok Sabha election, because we are going to win this election."
Reacting to Sarma's statement, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said, "Let him file FIRs. We will continue with our yatra. Let him divide the nation based on religion and language, we will bring the nation together with our Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra... He is the most corrupt CM and it is only expected from him to say all this."
Questioning Sarma on his statement about the timing of arrest, Congress MP Abdul Khaleque said, "If he has the courage to arrest, do it now. Why after the Lok Sabha elections. He is using the state police for his political gains."
This comes as Rahul Gandhi and Himanta Sarma locked horns over the Congress party's rally in the state with a clash erupting between the party's workers and the police two days back. A case was filed by the police against Gandhi on Sarma's directions, however, the former said he was not scared of such tactics and more cases would not pose a hindrance. Menwhile, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Home Minister Amit Shah raising safety concerns to Gandhi in the Assam leg of the yatra.
