'What is guarantee Rahul Gandhi won't be jailed before I am': Himanta

Guwahati: A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asserted that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma would be put in jail by the people for corruption, the BJP leader on Thursday said that what is the guarantee that before such happens, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha won't be behind bars.

Sarma maintained that it was not befitting of a national leader to make such remarks.

Gandhi, during a party workers' meet at Chaygaon near Guwahati on Wednesday, had claimed that the CM and his family will be held accountable for their corruption, and Sarma will be put in jail by the people of the state.

Hitting back at the Congress leader, Sarma said, "What is the guarantee that Rahul Gandhi will not be jailed before I am?"

"Coming to a state and saying whom he will send to jail or not is unbefitting of a national leader... It proves how important I am," the BJP leader maintained.

Sarma had asserted ahead of the Chaygaon meet that Gandhi, in a closed-door meeting with top state party leaders, had maintained that the CM would be sent to jail.

"'Take it in writing: Himanta Biswa Sarma will definitely be sent to jail', these were the exact words spoken by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, during his closed-door meeting with the Congress Political Affairs Committee in Assam," Sarma had said in a social media post on Wednesday, hours before Gandhi's comment in the public domain.

Sarma also said the Congress leader has "conveniently forgotten" that he himself is out on bail in multiple criminal cases registered across the country.

Reacting to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's claim in the same meeting that the state government has not given any jobs, the chief minister said, "Whether I have given jobs or not, people of Assam know it."

"We are working for the people of Assam and the public knows it. A speech won't change anything," he added.

The BJP had promised one lakh government jobs before the 2021 state elections, with the chief minister now claiming that it has already crossed the figure in its four-year tenure and more jobs will be given before its term is over next year.