'Congress will lose principal Opposition status after 2024' says Assam CM Himanta Sarma

Congress will lose the tag of the foremost opposition party in the country after the parliamentary elections in 2024, said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He said, "It will be difficult for the Congress party to retain the status of principal opposition party in the next parliamentary election in 2024. In my own assessment, they (Congress) will come down to around 30 to 35 seats in 2024."

He said that Congress as an entity has absolutely become brittle and weakened. Addressing a press conference at the Assam State BJP office in Guwahati, he stated the all the leaders the Congress party has nominated for the Rajya Sabha are not winnable.

"Today if you see the relationship between the Congress and states, if you look at Rajasthan, today the state of Rajasthan has become kind of a railway station to accommodate the refugees, means all the four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan have been allocated to certain Congress leaders who can't win elections."

Congress has treated states with 'contempt'

Assam CM Sarma slammed the Rahul Gandhi for labelling India as a union of states and not a nation, and questioned why the Congress party hasn't nominated local leaders for the Rajya Sabha elections if that was case. "Congress leadership has always considered or has treated all the states in India with a lot of contempt. Rahul Gandhi used to say that the country is a union of states, not civilization, if it is so, then why you have supplied all Rajya Sabha candidates from Delhi to Jaipur or from Delhi to some other places, you can send one or two, but entire lot," he said.

'Leaders close to Gandhi family are blackmailing them': Himanta Biswa Sarma

He alleged that the leaders close to the Gandhi family circle are blackmailing them of quitting the party if not given prime positions. "These are certain things the Congress party is acting on desperation. That is why, I am of the view that these are the occasion, signal you can pick up that the Congress is now under blackmail or under threat from the leadership surrounding the Gandhi family. They are now saying that if you don't give then we will quit. They are the position of strength that once the Congress or Gandhi family used to enjoy, but now that is not there. They have become weakened, completely weakened political establishment," Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

IMAGE: ANI, PTI