Ex-minister's desertion won't affect Congress: Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday admitted that former minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was his "blue eyed boy", but his joining the BJP will not affect the state's ruling Congress.

"The Congress is an ideology. In Congress, we do not have any individual identity. Some people are in the BJP or in the CPI, these are all due to ideologies. Good or bad, the BJP also has an ideology. A committed Congress worker can go to any other party but not to a communal party like the BJP," Gogoi told newsmen.

"There has been instances in the past. Congress leaders like late Sarat Singha also had, at some point of time, differences of opinion and left the party. But he had not gone to the BJP," he said.

"He (Sarma) was my blue eyed boy. I helped him in the past. Even the AICC had accused me once of favouring him. But I brushed aside all allegations against him. I trusted him. However, it is his personal decision to leave the party," Gogoi said.

"There will be no threat to the Congress. Sarma's departure from the Congress will not affect the party. The recently declared results of the Tiwa Autonomous Council polls are an indication of the same," Gogoi said.

The Congress bagged 15 out of the total 30 seats in the recently held election to the Tiwa Autonomous Council while the BJP could manage to get only three seats.

"The victory of the Congress in the Tiwa election proved that the popularity of Congress government is on the upswing. People have realised the BJP's hollow promises," he said.

Sarma, the former health and education minister and once a close aide of Gogoi, on Sunday met BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi and said he would join the BJP soon. He is likely to join the BJP formally during a function in Guwahati on August 28.