Raipur, April 8 The Chhattisgarh Congress passed a resolution on Wednesday strongly criticizing Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his remarks against party president Mallikarjun Kharge and its MP Rahul Gandhi, and stated that the use of abusive language has no place in a democracy.
The resolution was passed during a meeting of presidents and in-charges of district units of the party held at Rajiv Bhavan, the state Congress office in Raipur, state Congress chief Deepak Baij told reporters.
Baij criticized Sarma for his statements, insisting that the use of "abusive and derogatory language" against senior Congress leaders was highly objectionable and undermined democratic values.
All district presidents and party leaders unanimously supported the resolution condemning the BJP CM, and the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) also strongly denounced his remarks, he informed.
The meeting was attended by former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Charan Das Mahant, and ex-Deputy Chief Minister T S Singh Deo, among others.
Baij said during the meeting, a detailed review of organizational targets was also conducted.
One-on-one discussions were held with Congress district unit presidents and in-charges regarding the formation of committees at various levels, including district, block, village panchayat, and ward, he said.
The CPCC president informed that the Opposition party has set a target of establishing over 27,000 booth committees and more than 15,000 panchayat and ward panels, and work on their formation was progressing rapidly.
All these committees are expected to be constituted by April 15, after which new tasks will be assigned to them, he stated.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, former CM Baghel accused Sarma and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of indulging in "vote bank politics" and maintaining "double standards".
He criticized the Assam Chief Minister over his statements related to beef consumption.
"I asked Sarma, 'Do you visit Bangladesh? Is that where your Guru resides?' I questioned who is his guru -- is he a Hindu or a Muslim? I asked why he visits Bangladesh so frequently. They do Hindu-Muslim politics, but daughters of some of their leaders are married into Muslim families," the Congress leader claimed.
Talking to reporters at the Raipur airport earlier in the day, Baghel alleged the BJP government in Assam was mired in corruption and claimed complaints submitted by Congress leaders were ignored by the Election Commission, Enforcement Directorate, and Central Bureau of Investigation in the north-eastern state.
Baghel claimed the people of Assam have made up their mind to change government in the BJP-ruled state, where polling for the 126-member Assembly will be held on April 9.
Congress leader Pawan Khera recently alleged that Sarma's wife, Riniki, has multiple passports and foreign property, which were not declared in the chief minister's election affidavit.
Sarma earlier hit out at Congress president Kharge, claiming he was "speaking like a madman" due to old age, comments coming after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges made against the Assam chief minister.
The Assam CM has also repeatedly targeted Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.