Caught on video, Assam BJP chief’s outburst at party minister gives Congress fresh ammo

Assam BJP spokesperson Manoj Baruah referred to the incident as an “internal matter” and declined to comment further. Neither Saikia nor Baruah commented on the matter either.

According to sources, Saikia was upset at not being able to enter the venue while the CM, Baruah and the mandal president were inside and asked Baruah how this could happen in his constituency.

Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah called the altercation a display of the cracks between “RSS-loyalists” in the BJP and the “new guard” of the party.

Saikia, who is also the Darrang-Udalguri MP, was made the state BJP president earlier this year and has grown within the RSS and the BJP for nearly four decades. On the other hand, many of the BJP’s most prominent faces in the state – including Sarma and Baruah – are relatively recent imports into the party in the last decade – both from the Congress.

“Just see how the CM who likes to show his courage and manliness by locking up ordinary people, journalists and Congress spokesmen, demurred in front of the BJP state president… it was nice to see you lose your voice. You have always considered your chair more important than your self-respect. Here is the latest evidence,” Borah wrote on X.