No respect for Rahul Gandhi in Congress: Himanta

By our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Aug 29: Carrying forward his tirade against the Congress leadership State Fince Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday alleged that there is no respect for Rahul Gandhi among the state Congress leaders.

In an interaction with mediapersons in the city today, Sarma said that there are several leaders within the Assam Congress who have pathological dislike for Rahul Gandhi. “He (Rahul Gandhi) is criticized by several leaders of the State Congress but no one speaks openly for fear of action from the party high command,” he stated. Sarma ended his decades-long association with the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Jata Party last year, and played a pivotal role in uprooting the Congress regime in the last Assembly elections.

Mentiobly, Gautam Roy, another Congress heavyweight and former Public Health Engineering Minister during Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government, appreciated Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP in a media interaction on Sunday.

Sarma had earlier alleged that Rahul Gandhi acts like a god and treats the other Congress leaders like his servants.

The Fince Minister also criticized former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and declared that the BJP government under the leadership of Sarbanda Sonowal performed better in all parameters related to the development of the state in the last three months after coming to power. “In the last three months after attaining power, the BJP government has eclipsed the Congress on every parameter except distribution of yarn and blankets. The party has done what the Congress failed to do during their last three years. I will come with evidence to support my claim in this regard in December,” he declared.

Sarma further stated that the state government would  implement the new pay commission recommendations from April 1 next year. “All the employees will be paid as per the seventh pay commission from April 1, 2017,” he said.

The fince minister further demanded that the government had released the six per cent increment in Dearness Allowance (DA) to all state employees soon after coming to power. “The Congress government did not release the DA for six months. But we have cleared the pending DAs to every government employees,” he remarked.

Sarma further declared that the Centre has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 189 crore for Diphu Medical College and Hospital.

He also stated that the PWD will sanction an amount of Rs. 1000 crore for repairing state roads.

When asked about the rise in prices of essential commodities, Sarma said in a casual manner that prices keep on fluctuating throughout the year. “It is true that prices of few of the commodities have gone up. But there are several commodities whose prices had reduced. It is normally observed that there is rise in prices of commodities during the festive season, especially Durga Puja, and will again come down soon after,” he quipped.   

The fince minister also appealed to the people to give some time to the BJP government for finding a proper remedy to the burning issues pertaining to the state like price rise. “It is too early to judge the government from a period of just three month. The proper assessment can only be made by March-April next year. The budget had been communicated to all the departments only on August 24 last. The government needs some time for fulfilment of the budget provisions,” he concluded.