Ghulam Nabi Azad shares inside scoop on Himanta quitting Congress in 2015, Assam CM reacts

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday shared the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's recent interview video where he talked about the time when Azad tried to stop his exit from Congress but failed to do so. This came in connection with Azad sharing a detailed inside account of the time when Himanta Sarma turned rebellion with his supporters and how Rahul Gandhi's involvement escalated the issue. 

Taking to Twitter, CM Sarma stated that even after the unsuccessful attempt of former J&K CM to resolve the crisis, he continued to stay in the party for another 12 months and the story of that duration was quite fascinating. He further stated that he then ultimately quit Congress in August 2015. 

"Despite the unsuccessful attempt of Ghulam Nabi Azad ji to resolve the crisis, I continued in the Congress party for another 12 months. The story of those 12 months is quite fascinating. I ultimately left the Congress party in August 2015," Sarma tweeted.

Ghulam Nabi Azad shares inside scoop on Himanta quitting Congress in 2015

Recently, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "It was the time after the budget session concluded, I went to Srinagar when I received a call from Ahmed Bhai who connected me to Madam (Sonia Gandhi). She asked me to immediately return to Delhi due to some emergency internal crisis in Assam. She told me that she has got to know  Himanta Sarma had tendered his resignation to the then Assam Governor Janaki Ballabh Patnaik declaring a rebellion with the support of 40-45 MLAs. As Himanta and the then Governor were close to me she asked me to tell them to put the registration on hold. And I followed the instructions faithfully.

He added, "I directly called up Himanta Sarma to meet me along with his MLAs in different planes and asked them not to interact with anyone. They all came and Sarma told me he had a majority, I asked them to stay for 2 days. The then-chief minister Tarun Gogoi was also asked to do the same and he came with his 7 people. I explained to Sonia Gandhi about all the developments and she said that Sarma clearly has the majority".

Azad stated, "Despite all these developments, Mrs Gandhi did not tell us to once to consult with Rahul Gandhi although we were in constant touch with her about the daily meetings. Just a day before we were supposed to leave for Assam, I got a call from Rahul Gandhi and he questioned me whether I am going to change the chief minister I said yes. He then asked us not to go to Assam at the time when Sonia Gandhi was the party, President. And he had no top position in the party and asked me to meet him along with the general secretary".

Former J&K CM said, "When we visited to meet Rahul, he was having tea with the then CM Tarun Gogoi and his son Gaurav Gogoi. We were astonished as we were supposed to give an independent opinion. Rahul then told us I have heard that you all are teasing and irritating the CM and I told him we were given this task".

He added, " Rahul told me that Tarun Gogoi will continue to be the CM, I informed him that Himanta will leave the party as he has numbers. He said Janne do. Honestly, I was not surprised as every time a Congress leader talks of leaving, it has become Rahul Gandhi's Taqiya Kalam to say - Jaane Do RSS Mein Jaane Do. He will never ask which party is Samajwadi or BSP, he himself completes the second part and add RSS to it. I don't understand his attitude whether he is pro-Congress or Anti-Congress".