Guwahati (Assam) [India], November 3 (ANI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday took a dig at Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the INDIA bloc’s symbolic impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, saying that while Gandhi could become Prime Minister in a mock Parliament, Narendra Modi would continue to be Prime Minister in the actual Parliament.
Reacting to the Opposition’s symbolic public impeachment programme and its subsequent rally against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls, Sarma said Congress leaders had made several attempts to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister but had failed to achieve the objective.
“Sonia ji wanted to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister, and many efforts were made towards it. But when no efforts were successful, they organised a mock parliament in the lawns of the residence of Kharge ji, where he (Rahul Gandhi) became the PM. The reality is this – in mock parliament, Rahul Gandhi will be the PM, and Modi ji will be the PM in Parliament,” Sarma said.
The Assam Chief Minister’s remarks came amid a political confrontation between the BJP and the INDIA bloc over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and allegations of deletion of genuine voters’ names.
Earlier, the INDIA bloc on Saturday passed a symbolic motion seeking the impeachment of CEC Gyanesh Kumar during a mock Parliament organised in the national capital. The programme, presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress leader Meira Kumar, saw participation from leaders of several Opposition parties.
The programme triggered a sharp political exchange between the Opposition and the BJP. Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi warned that the Opposition would not let the CEC “escape”, while BJP leaders dismissed the exercise as “melodrama” and defended the constitutional safeguards available to the country’s top constitutional authorities.
On Sunday, the INDIA bloc held a mega rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and the SIR exercise. The rally was attended by several prominent Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Meanwhile, Sarma on Sunday led the BJP’s ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) padyatra in Shimla, where he launched an attack on Rahul Gandhi over the SIR exercise and accused him of attempting to protect infiltrators. (ANI)
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