Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Even as the dust of Assam’s poll campaign has settled, the ugly faceoff witnessed during the high-octane showdown between chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Congress escalated on Monday, with Rahul Gandhi calling the Assam CM “the most corrupt in the country” who is “abusing state power to harass his political opponents”.Backing his party colleague Pawan Khera, whose Delhi house Assam police raided after an explosive claim against Himanta’s wife, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha said the “Congress stands with Pawan Khera” and that the “party will not be intimidated”.“The present CM of Assam is the most corrupt in the country. He will not escape the law. His abuse of state power to harass his political opponents and critics is against the Constitution. The questions that are being raised have to be probed. Transparency, accountability of power and rule of law are the basis of our Constitutional values. The Congress Party stands with Pawan Khera. We will not be intimidated,” Rahul Gandhi wrote against Himanta, who switched from Congress to the BJP in 2016.Khera struck Himanta’s nerve after he alleged, in a press conference, the Assam CM’s wife held multiple foreign passports, prompting a sharp rebuttal and legal threat from the BJP leader.“We have documents showing that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma holds three passports. The first is a UAE Golden Card, the second an Antigua and Barbuda passport, and the third an Egyptian passport. Two of these belong to Islamic countries, yet they continue to claim religious adherence publicly,” Khera said.Later, Sarma dismissed the claims as politically motivated and said that both he and his wife will file a defamation case against Khera within 48 hours. “Today’s press conference by Pawan Khera reflects the deep frustration and panic within the Congress party. As Assam moves decisively towards a historic mandate, such desperate and baseless attacks only expose their sinking ground,” he wrote on X.As the faceoff began to worsen, Telangana High Court granted anticipatory bail to Khera in connection with a case registered against him over his alleged defamatory remarks against CM Sarma and his wife.
