Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday launched a scathing critique against the Congress party while extolling the democratic ethos of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Speaking at the inauguration of a party office at Chakchaka in Barpeta district, the chief minister, a Congressman-turned-BJP leader, claimed the agenda of the grand old party is set in the ‘dining room of one family’.

“The BJP is a democratic party, formed by its workers. But if you look at Congress or other parties, these are not formed by workers, but are centred around their leaders and families.

“Decisions are taken in the dining room of the family and workers only follow it. The agenda and ideology of the party are changed to suit the requirement of the family,” he said.

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Drawing from his personal experiences, Sarma, later in Guwahati, recounted an anecdote from the BJP’s national executive meet in Odisha. The chief minister said he was surprised by the unassuming manner in which top BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, and Dharmendra Pradhan engaged with attendees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too ate together with everyone at the meeting, he said.

“We were told that it is how it works in BJP. In Congress, sitting at the same table as Sonia Gandhi or on a chair beside Rahul Gandhi is unimaginable,” Sarma, a Congressman-turned-BJP leader, just like Khandu, added.

Continuing the tirade against the grand old party, he further said, “If at a Congress platform, we say in front of Sonia Gandhi that Gandhi family comes second and nation is first, how it will go down I am apprehensive.”

“But Modi ji himself says that nation first, party second, family third. And this shows the organisational foundation of BJP,” he added.

“A senior leader like Amit Shah is more glad to eat in a party worker’s house than some fancy hotel,” he maintained.

Talking to reporters at the party headquarters, Sarma exuded confidence that the BJP and its allies will win over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, and the Congress will be reduced to a ‘regional or state party’.

“The Congress’ aura as a national party will dimmish further after this election. How will they hide their failure? There will be no national leadership left and it party will be fragmented into just state units,” the BJP leader claimed.