Guwahati: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, on Friday urged Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to grant permission to hold the Congress’ ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in Assam. Saikia said that Sarma is not aware of the applications made by the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) to hold the Rahul Gandhi-led programme in the state.
While responding to Chief Minister Sarma’s claims before the media that the Assam government is not aware of the Congress seeking permission to hold the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam, Saikia said, “Chief Minister Sarma expressed before the media yesterday that the APCC has not yet sought any kind of permission to hold the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam. I think the Chief Minister has wrongly said it as the respective district committees of the APCC have already applied for permission for the yatra in Sivasagar, Jorhat, Majuli, among several other districts of the state according to the norms of the Assam government by paying the required fee for granting permission to hold our political programmes, including ‘padyatra,’ roadside meetings, campsites for night stays, and road shows.”
The Congress leader stated that, as he has been informed by the district Congress committees, all their applications have already been sent to headquarters.
“Though we have already applied for permission to hold our programmes, the respective district Superintendent of Police (SPs) have not yet been instructed to grant us permission to hold them. They will be able to grant us permission only after instruction from the upper-level political sources,” Saikia added.
Saikia further requested Chief Minister Sarma to grant the Congress party permission as sought so that they could prepare for the programme.
Earlier on Thursday, CM Sarma, while addressing the media in Guwahati, said that the Assam government will grant permission to Congress to hold the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state if the Congress party seeks permission for it.
The Chief Minister, however, said that the Assam government is not aware of the grand old party seeking permission to hold its programme in the state. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to reach Assam on January 18 after being flagged off from Manipur on January 14. The yatra will culminate in Mumbai on March 20.