Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying he "does not have systematic seriousness", wants to have power without responsibility and "is not fit for politics".
In an interview with ANI, Mr Sarma who was in Congress for over two decades, said he had told the party's leadership that they will lose the northeast without a course correction. Mr Sarma joined BJP in 2015.
He accused Rahul Gandhi of being non-serious as a politician, behaving like "a feudal lord" and being arrogant.
"The first thing is he is not fit for politics. Probably, the work he should not do, he is doing," Mr Sarma said.
He said Rahul Gandhi can sometimes leave a meeting in between and go for his exercise routine like jogging or suddenly go to the next room and come after half an hour. "There is no systematic seriousness," he said.
Mr Sarma said Rahul Gandhi, who is on Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, had taken moral responsibility for the party's defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and for his losing from Amethi and had stepped down as president but continues to take crucial party decisions.
"Rahul has taken moral responsibility that the party lost the Lok Sabha elections under my leadership, so I will not be the president. But who is running the party today, who is leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra? Who is the whole party running after? That means you want to enjoy the power without accountability. In a democracy, when somebody wants to enjoy the power without parliamentary accountability, without party accountability, without the accountability of the people, that is the most dangerous thing," he said.
"You are not Congress president but you take all the decisions. If you are not Congress president, taken up moral responsibility after losing the election, why the entire party is behind you now," he added.
Mr Sarma said Rahul Gandhi was on yatra but had failed to convey his vision for the country.
"They (Gandhi family) go to the poor people, but do the poor come to their house? Have you ever seen Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi having dinner with poor people at the same dining table," Sarma asked.
He said Congress has an ecosystem where only the Gandhi family matters.
"I must give credit to Congress party, they create an environment that beyond Gandhi family you have nothing. When someone resigns from the party, the Congress spokesperson says he has betrayed the family, they will not say he has betrayed the nation. They will say that the family gave you everything but the fact is that the people of the nation give power. But they create a buzz that family had made you MP. This is the environment of Congress," Mr Sarma said.
"The day you join Congress...the Congress has an inside culture that your life starts and ends with Gandhi(s). Like you get attached to any guru, you just surrender everything to that guru. There is an atmosphere. I don't know who started this, who will end but this ecosystem is very strong in Congress." he added.
Mr Sarma also said that a lot of people will come to the BJP from Congress.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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