'You're naturally strong there': Himanta Biswa Sarma admits Congress is strong in THIS region of Assam

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Congress have been engaged in a war of words ever since Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered the state. Sarma, who has been very aggressive in countering every salvos fired by the Congress, on Wednesday admitted that the grand old party was strong in some regions.  

The chief minister's response came after a Congress supporter, Ravinder Kapur, shared a video of a crowd gathered for Rahul Gandhi - who is currently in Assam as part of his Nyay Yatra. Kapur said there was a sea of people who had assembled in Dhubri-Assam to listen to former Congress chief. "This mass exodus of the people of Assam to the Congress has cast a fear in @himantabiswa and the BJP," he said. 

Also read: ‘Most corrupt chief minister in the country’: Rahul Gandhi on Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
  
Sarma reacted to this almost immediately, saying he was waiting for such tweet. He then said that in the crowd shown in the video, not even 2 per cent people were from the majority community. "It's a seat represented by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal with 85% voters from the minority community," he said. 

"You are naturally strong there. I do admit," said Sarma, who was once a Congressman but left the party after former chief minister Tarun Gogoi promoted his son over him. "This sums up the so called Nyay Yatra. Enjoy the success of the meeting for the rest of the evening."

Badruddin Ajmal, a sitting MP from the Dhubri constituency, is the president of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). The AIUDF has significant vote base in 28 Muslim-dominated seats in Assam. Assam has a nearly 40 per cent Muslim population — official estimates of 2011 put it at 35 per cent. 

To prevent the division in Muslim votes, in the 2021 assembly polls, Congress had allied with Ajmal's AIUDF to take on the BJP, which looked set to retain the state for the second straight term. The Congress contestd on 95 seats while Ajmal fought on 20 of 126. However, the BJP-led NDA upset the Congress' calculation and returned to power by cornering 75 sears with nearly 45 per cent votes.

The Congress, which ruled Assam for 15 years before losing it to BJP, bagged 29 seats while Ajmal's AIUDF could win 16 seats.