Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday asserted that the state police have already identified the ‘body double’ allegedly utilized by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state.
The chief minister further stated that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit, he will divulge information regarding the 'body double' to the media in a news conference.
“Regarding the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, we have registered two cases against Rahul and other Congress leaders. The Jorhat case is being investigated by the district police, while, for the Guwahati case, Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed and they are working on it. We have identified the body double which was used by Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state. Once Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes back, I will brief the media on that through a press conference. In most of the roads where the yatra was conducted, Rahul was not cheering the crowd, it was his body double who was cheering and after the controversy, the body double quietly left the city directly to Delhi without accompanying him to the next leg i.e. from Guwahati to Bengal,” said CM Sarma during the press conference.
Earlier, at a press conference, Sarma brought up the allegation that the Congress MP used a "body double" during the Yatra, citing a media report alleging that the person sitting and waving at people from the Yatra bus was "probably not Rahul Gandhi at all".
"I'm not simply saying things. I will provide the name of the duplicate as well as how it was done, Just wait a few days,” said the chief minister when asked about the charge against Gandhi by reporters on the sidelines of a function in Sonitpur district.
The Manipur-Maharashtra Nyay Yatra, being led by Gandhi, had travelled through Assam from January 18 to 25, during which the Congress MP had alleged that Sarma was the "most corrupt CM of India".
The opposition party also alleged denial or problems in route permissions through the state by the BJP-led government. The situation reached a flashpoint when Congress leaders and workers broke police barricades erected to prevent them from entering the main city limits of Guwahati.
Following this, an FIR was registered against Gandhi and others over the incident, with Sarma later stating that they would be arrested after the Lok Sabha polls as he did not want to "politicize" the issue prior to the elections.
Sarma maintained that the Congress will need "all the Gandhis" -- Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul - to defeat him in the state.
"Let them bring Priyanka Gandhi's son also," he added.
