Tarun Gogoi accuses BJP of using moneybags to topple his government

Guwahati, March 29

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Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spending "hundreds of crores" to try to topple his government with the help of Governor.

"BJP spent lots of money. They wasted hundreds of crores before the Bihar elections to topple the government in Assam. They tried it by taking Himanta (Biswa Sarma) and other MLAs, but they could not do it," Gogoi told a press conference on Tuesday.

Gogoi accused Sarma, once a trusted Congress minister of Gogoi who is presently in the BJP, of betraying him and almost persuading 35 MLAs against him, he claimed.

"The Governor (Padmanabha Balakrishan Acharya) was also involved in this. Without his support how is it possible? That is why the Centre is not appointing a permanent Governor in Assam. That is why they are appointing all RSS people as Governors," Gogoi claimed.

Gogoi also regretted his decision of trusting Sarma during his tenure with the Congress.

"Yes, I trusted him a lot. He betrayed a simple man like me. Himanta and all his supporters were not original Congressmen. They come and go. Himanta was with ULFA, then AASU, AGP, Congress and now (a) BJP man," he said.

The Chief Minister dubbed Uttarakhand crisis “a murder of democracy".

"You did it in Arunachal and now Uttarakhand. The government was to test its majority next day and you (Centre) toppled it. (This is) Hitler in India! This is dictatorial and a murder of democracy," he alleged.

Gogoi allegations came a few hours after Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh accused Narendra Modi’s central government of trying to pull down Congress governments — his own included. —  PTI