Guwahati, February 17 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Tuesday that then Congress President Sonia Gandhi had asked him to decide on the date for his swearing-in as chief minister when 58 party MLAs had supported him in 2014.
However, the situation changed after Rahul Gandhi, who was then in the USA, made phone calls to party leaders, Sarma told reporters here after a cabinet meeting at the state legislative assembly.
The Assam Congress had experienced dissent after the 2011 assembly polls, with a section of the MLAs supporting Sarma as the chief minister, replacing the incumbent Tarun Gogoi. He left the party to join the BJP in 2015 and played a pivotal role in ensuring the saffron party's first victory in the assembly polls.
"Madam (Sonia Gandhi), whom I still refer to as such, had asked me to decide on the date, and I had told her that I would take oath after the Ambubachi Mela at the Kamakhya Temple in June (2014)," Sarma said.
The situation changed after Rahul Gandhi made the calls, he said.
"I was hurt then, but now I believe that whatever happens in one's life is for the best, and God has given me much more than I would have gotten had I remained in the Congress," he said.
"As the chief minister of the BJP, I got the opportunity to wholeheartedly serve both Assam and Sanatan dharma, which would not have been possible had I remained in the Congress," Sarma, who became the chief minister in 2021, added.
He said that he would elaborate on these developments if he ever wrote a book.