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Sharing what he called his “days of distress”, Assam CM Himanta Sarma said the scenario changed after Rahul Gandhi made phone calls to party leaders from the United States
Himanta Biswa Sarma left the Congress to join the BJP in 2015 and played a pivotal role in ensuring the saffron party’s first victory in the Assam assembly polls. (Image: PTI/File)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked him to decide on the date for his swearing in as CM when 58 party MLAs had supported him back in 2014.
Sharing what he called his “days of distress” in the Congress, Sarma said the scenario changed after Rahul Gandhi — in the United States at that time — made phone calls to party leaders.
“When Mallikarjun Kharge had then come to the state, 58 MLAs supported me for the chief minister’s chair. Many senior leaders stayed neutral, and only 12 MLAs supported Tarun Gogoi against me. At that time, Rahul Gandhi was in America. Sonia Gandhi called me to her residence and asked me to set a date for the oath-taking ceremony. I told her I would take the oath the day after ambubachi (a major annual ritual at the Kamakhya temple). But then Rahul Gandhi called from America, and everything changed,” Sarma said after a cabinet meeting at the state legislative assembly.
He added: “The Congress kicked me out and threw me into the Ganga. You do not know why I left the party. Tarun Gogoi had asked everyone to attend Gaurav’s meeting. All cabinet ministers were instructed to attend. I said I would work for the party, but I would not attend that meeting.”
Assam Congress had witnessed dissidence after the 2011 elections, with a section of the MLAs supporting Sarma as the CM replacing the incumbent Tarun Gogoi. He left the party to join the BJP in 2015 and played a pivotal role in ensuring the saffron party’s first victory in the assembly polls. He had resigned from then CM Tarun Gogoi’s cabinet in 2014 and from the party in 2015.
His remarks come amid a big loss to the Congress in the poll-bound state after former state Congress chief Bhupen Borah submitted his resignation from the party on Monday (February 16).
Sarma further criticised the current state of the Assam Congress, claiming it has lost its original identity. He said it now primarily represents “Bangladeshis” and the “Miyan” community.
On Borah’s resignation, he said the leader had tried to make the Congress free of AIUDF influence but could not overcome what he referred to as the “RHINO”, referring to MP Rakibul Hussain without naming him.
Guwahati [Gauhati], India, India
February 18, 2026, 00:51 IST
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