Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 17 took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi being apparently prompted by party colleague Jairam Ramesh during a press conference, by terming the economist-turned politician, Congress's "Chief Saboteur".
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He also ridiculed those who believe that Mr. Gandhi will emerge as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I feel nothing but sorry for the so called secularists and leftists who harbour high hopes, expecting this man to defeat Hon PM @narendramodi ji and become PM,” Mr. Sarma wrote on Twitter.
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“And Mr. Jairam seems to be playing the role of Chief Saboteur. Tutoring with mic on … strange,” the former Congressman-turned-BJP leader added, sharing a video clip of 26 seconds.
In the transcript of the clip, as shared by Mr. Sarma, Mr. Gandhi is initially shown saying “unfortunately I am a member of Parliament” at which Mr. Ramesh, seated to his left, intervenes and purportedly tells Mr. Gandhi that “they can make a joke” of it.
The senior party-man then asks Mr. Gandhi to rephrase it as ‘unfortunately for you’ and the latter resumes his address with the re-framed sentence.
Mr. Gandhi, who is being attacked by the BJP for his ‘democracy under attack’ in India remarks in the UK, had addressed a press conference in the national capital on March 16, after being disallowed from defending himself in the Lok Sabha and said if Indian democracy was functioning, he would be able to say his piece in Parliament, asserting that it is a ‘test of democracy’.