Sonia offered me Assam CM post, but Rahul overturned it: Himanta Biswa Sarma

A day after political ripples in Assam following former state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah’s resignation, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had offered him the chief minister’s post in 2014, but the decision was later reversed after intervention by Rahul Gandhi.

Sarma said that at the time, he had the support of 58 Congress MLAs and was informally cleared by Sonia Gandhi to assume office. “Madam (Sonia Gandhi), whom I still refer to as such, had asked me to decide on the date and I had told her that I would take oath after the Ambubachi Mela at Kamakhya Temple in June 2014,” he said.

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However, according to Sarma, the situation changed abruptly. “That decision was overturned after Rahul Gandhi, who was in the US at that time, made some calls,” he added.

Sarma’s remarks come amid renewed turmoil within the Assam Congress, triggered by Borah’s resignation, which has sparked debate over internal functioning and leadership cohesion in the party ahead of key political contests.

Sarma, who later quit the Congress in 2015 following differences with the leadership and joined the BJP, also reflected on how events unfolded. He had accused the then chief minister Tarun Gogoi of promoting his son Gaurav Gogoi, now the state Congress president.

“Had I become a Congress chief minister, history would have remembered me with disgrace, as I would not have been able to work for Sanatan Dharma or the Assamese people. I thank Rahul Gandhi for not making me a CM then,” Sarma said.

Meanwhile, Borah also hinted at dissatisfaction with the party’s internal decision-making, though he did not elaborate on specific reasons. “I have told the PCC chief that if the Congress party can’t even decide whom they want with them in the Majuli yatra, then we need to look at the future of the party,” he said.

Senior Congress leaders, including Assam in-charge Jitendra Singh and state president Gaurav Gogoi, have urged Borah to reconsider his resignation, with Gogoi describing him as a “strong Congress leader” and an “asset” to the party.

The developments underscore continuing challenges for the Congress in Assam, even as the BJP remains firmly in power under Sarma’s leadership.