Guwahati, Aug. 28: One man today became the cause for celebrations both in the ruling and Opposition camps in Assam.
While the BJP rolled out the red carpet to welcome former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to the party fold, the ruling Congress distributed sweets, danced and sang Bihu songs as part of its ullax divas (day of joy) to celebrate his exit from the party.
It was a win-win situation for both, or so it appeared.
The Congress even took to spring-cleaning its offices across the state to symbolically wipe away the last trace of "garbage" that the one-time heavyweight had apparently become for the party.
Assam PCC president Anjan Dutta told reporters that no individual could be larger than the Congress's ideology. He said the Congress had nothing to worry about since Sarma had not joined the BJP for any ideological battle.
"Sarma has joined the BJP for his personal interests. For quite some time, Sarma, by remaining inside the Congress, was fuelling dissidence rather than doing any good to the party. So we are more than happy that he has left the Congress finally and joined the opposition camp," Dutta said.
Congress legislator Rakibuddin Ahmed, who was once with Sarma in opposing the leadership of chief minister Tarun Gogoi, also arrived at Rajiv Bhawan to join the celebrations. "I will be with the Congress till I go to my kabar (grave)," he said.
Sarma returned here from Delhi this morning to a tumultuous welcome by hundreds of BJP supporters, including some Congress legislators close to him, at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
The Congress legislators and some senior party members now face disciplinary action for being at the airport to welcome him. Sarma himself was suspended a day after he met BJP president Amit Shah and said he would join the BJP, unable any more to take the alleged humiliation heaped on him by the Congress.
The airport wore a festive look as Sarma's supporters danced to the accompaniment of cymbals and dhols while waiting for him to arrive.
"From today the lotus will bloom in every nook and corner of Assam. We will leave no stone unturned for the development of the state. We owe our allegiance to Himanta Biswa Sarma because he is a dynamic leader who has the makings of leading the state. We will always be with him no matter which party he is in," Pramod Nath, a supporter from Jalukbari Assembly constituency that Sarma represents, said.
Sarma's convoy, which left the airport soon after noon, arrived at the BJP's state headquarters at Hengerabari at 4.30pm, covering about 30km. Along the route that covered Maligaon, Fancy Bazar, Chandmari and Ganeshguri, people lined the streets, garlanding him and showering him with flowers.
Sarma first spoke at Azara and straightaway criticised chief minister Tarun Gogoi, the alleged fountainhead of his "humiliation" for 13 months. "This support is for Narendra Modi...the Congress's departure is imminent and chief minister Tarun Gogoi should resign," he said.
Like Rajiv Bhawan, the PCC headquarters, there were celebrations at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan, the state BJP headquarters at Hengerabari, too. Only the reason was different. BJP MP Bijoya Chakraborty, a former Union minister, while joining the celebrations said, "It (Sarma's joining the BJP) was an earthquake today which demolished Rajiv Bhawan."
