Sonia Gandhi asked me to decide date of my swearing-in as Assam Congress CM in 2014: Himanta

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 in 2014.

The scenario, however, changed after Rahul Gandhi, who was then in the USA, made phone calls to party leaders, Sarma told reporters here after a cabinet meeting at the state legislative assembly.

Assam Congress had witnessed dissidence after the 2011 Assembly polls, with a section of the MLAs supporting Sarma as the Chief Minister, 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.

“Madam (Sonia Gandhi), whom I still refer to as such, had asked me to decide on the date and I had told her that I would take oath after the Ambubachi Mela at Kamakhya Temple in June (2014),” Sarma said.

The situation changed after Rahul Gandhi made the calls, he said.

“I was hurt then, but now I believe that whatever happens in one's life is for the best and God has given me much more than what I would have got, had I remained in the Congress,” he said.

“As the BJP CM, I got a chance to serve both Assam and Sanatan dharma wholeheartedly, which would not have been possible had I been in the Congress,” Sarma, who became the Chief Minister in 2021, added.

He said that he would elaborate on these developments if he ever writes a book.