Mr Sarma asserted that people have to make a major transformation after they join the BJP.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that Congress' "feudalism" is alien to the BJP's culture and someone like Gaurav Gogoi would not be able to survive in the party. Mr Sarma said he would be happy if he is proved wrong.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the chief minister was asked about his statement that many people from the Congress wanted to join the BJP. He was asked if any list had been made and whether the name of Mr Gogoi, who is the Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, was on it.
"I believe Gaurav Gogoi will not be able to survive in the BJP. If I am proved wrong, I will be happy. The feudal lords that Congress has, or had... they have seen a culture in their home, which is alien to the culture of the BJP," Mr Sarma said.
The chief minister asserted that people have to make a major transformation after they join the BJP and the transition from the Congress to the party was not problematic for him because his father was not a politician.
"This transformation cannot be done by everybody. I am not saying that nobody can do it. So when people like Gaurav Gogoi have to come to the BJP, they have to come for a big cultural transformation. I know him since he was a child, and so I feel that it will be difficult for him. People from his family are also involved in NGOs, so it will not be very easy. That is why it is better I should not request him," Mr Sarma remarked.
The BJP leader said Gaurav Gogoi's father, Tarun Gogoi, had been made the Assam chief minister by people like him. "As MLAs, we voted for him, and that is the constitutional norm... I had a great personal relationship with Tarun Gogoi. When he was not the chief minister and was admitted to a hospital after contracting Covid, I was next to his hospital bed in the Covid ward and would meet him every alternate day," he said.
"By that time I was in BJP and he was in Congress. He would give me suggestions. I have cordial relationships with every politician in Assam," the chief minister added.