Guwahati, Aug. 24: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today stopped short of attacking his former ministerial colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma but left none in doubt about his feelings for his one-time "blue-eyed boy"-turned bête noire a day after Sarma announced his decision to join the BJP.

Addressing a news conference hours before leaving for a Niti Aayog meeting in Delhi, Gogoi admitted: "He was my blue-eyed boy. I backed him despite reservations from senior colleagues. Even Delhi used to criticise me. He was efficient and keen to learn. I trusted him blindly. I signed anything he gave me. I also helped him set up his TV channel. I do not know why he is unhappy with me. Do not know why he left. We have been with the Congress even when it was passing through a difficult phase," Gogoi said in an answer to a query over Louis Berger scam.

Sarma has denied any wrongdoing and said all files were cleared by Gogoi who has already ordered a CID inquiry into the case.

Gogoi said ideology matters in the Congress and not individuals and that he has seen people come and go in the party but a "committed Congman can only go to a like-minded party if he wants to leave, but never goes and joins a communal party".

He ruled out any impact on the party and added, "I do not want any bitterness because such things are a part of life."

Party insiders said Gogoi had subtly spoken his mind through his choice of words. "Words like 'blue-eyed boy', 'blind trust', 'commitment and ideology' have been used to send a message about Himanta and how such things won't affect the party," one of them said.

That Gogoi was trying to make a point was also evident from the jovial mood he displayed at the news meet when asked about Sarma's quitting the Congress to join the BJP, unlike in the past when he used to abruptly end a press meet whenever he was asked about dissidence.

Sarma's exit from the Congress has been described by most as a development that could become the "defining moment" of the 2016 Assembly election, for better or worse. Since electoral politics is his forte, the BJP stands to benefit, they said.

Gogoi also used the opportunity to hit out at the BJP and its parent, the Jan Sangh. "If I am corrupt, how can I become honest if I join them (the BJP)?" he asked, referring to the BJP parliamentary board booklet, which was released last month and which named Sarma as one of the main suspects in the Louis Berger case.

In another dig at the BJP, which has emerged as one of the main challengers of the Congress along with the AIUDF in the Assembly polls, Gogoi said: "There is no threat to the Congress (over Sarma joining the BJP) but it only reflects the BJP's real strength that only Sarma can save it. Does it mean that senior leaders such as MPs Rajen Gohain and Bijoya Chakravarty have no role to play? Good luck to the BJP."

Gogoi cited the example of former Gujarat chief minister Chimanbhai Patel, who was ousted from the Congress in 1974 on corruption charges, in an apparent attempt to expose the BJP doublespeak. "Patel floated his own party and later led a coalition government supported by the BJP. Corrupt people become honest when they join you (BJP). I had discussed the Patel episode even with Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the three-time chief minister said.

Talking to The Telegraph this evening from Delhi where he held a series of meetings with BJP leaders, Sarma said: "The CM called me his blue-eyed boy today but where were these kind words when I was being humiliated for the past 13 months? Had these words been spoken three months back, things would have been different today."

He also went on to add: "If the chief minister trusted me blindly, I also followed him blindly, unmindful of the consequences."

Assam PCC president Anjan Dutta has convened a senior leaders' meeting from 11am and a meeting of MLAs from 5pm on September 2.

The party said it was decided to convene the two meetings yesterday but the development surrounding Sarma quitting the party put everything on the backburner. Congress watchers linked the meeting with the Sarma development.

Sarma said yesterday the BJP winning the Assembly polls was a foregone conclusion. "The AIUDF will come second. Congress will be vying for third and fourth position. Everybody knows," he said.

The twin meetings also become important because Sarma had said around eight MLAs would leave the party in due course of time. The names of sitting Congress MLAs Pradan Barua, Jayanta Malla Barua and Bolin Chetia joining Sarma sooner than later is doing the rounds.

The meetings, sources said, would help the party leadership gauge the mood of the MLAs and also prepare a strategy on how to contain any fallout of Sarma's departure.

Though there is no apparent threat to the Gogoi government, the political temperature in the state is bound to rise with the arrival of Sarma on August 28 morning. "I will land around 10.30am at Borjhar and then go straight to the BJP office and formally join the party on that day. Most BJP MPs and MLAs will be present. I had no option but to leave as I was humiliated for 13 straight months. I was not even invited to important party meetings," Sarma told The Telegraph this evening.

Sarma later tonight criticised both Tarun Gogoi, AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi style of functioning, adding that he was forced out of the party despite his efforts to make things work for himself and the party. Congress' defeat is a foregone conclusion and his impact will be known only after the assembly results are out.

The Bongaigaon District Youth Congress Committee burst crackers and shouted slogans against Sarma at the party office in Bongaigaon.

Jyotirmoi Baishya, president of Bongaigaon district unit of Youth Congress, said, "Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had joined the Congress after leaving AASU and Ulfa, is now going to join the BJP and might also join the AIUDF. Sarma is a communal person and we suspect his involvement behind the communal clashes the state had witnessed in recent past."

However, the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) party president and chief executive member of the Bodoland Teritorial Council (BTC) Hagrama Mohilary said Sarma was the "hero" of the Congress party in Assam and his joining the BJP will surely harm the Congress.

The president of the newly-floated United People's Party (UPP) and former Rajya Sabha member Urkhao Gwra Brahma said the Congress would suffer because of Sarma's departure. All Bodoland Minority Student's Union (ABMSU) general secretary Lafiqul Islam Ahmed said Sarma's joining the BJP woujld help the party but the AIUDF would benefit more from the move.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM OUR KOKRAJHAR AND BONGAIGAON CORRESPONDENTS