Guwahati: After failing to deliver on his pledge to give the area a makeover akin to London or Paris, Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP was accused by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of “comparing the national capital with lesser towns” on Sunday.
Kejriwal was targeted by Sarma, who also said that the Delhi chief minister only “stated his wish to visit Assam” now and not while the state was experiencing emergencies like floods.
Over the past few days, the two chief ministers had been exchanging rhetorical blows on Twitter, each of them pleading with the other to visit their state and see the development being carried out there.
The argument began when Kejriwal stated that closing the schools was not the answer in response to a news report that the Assam government had closed 34 schools owing to subpar performance.
In response to the Delhi chief minister, Sarma replied, “Don’t you remember @ArvindKejriwal ji? You came to office with a vow to make Delhi seem like London and Paris.”
Sarma continued, “When you could not achieve anything, then you started comparing #Delhi with smaller cities of Assam and Northeast,” implying that Kejriwal had broken his election promise.
Sarma continued by asserting that the BJP will turn a city like Delhi into the “most prosperous city in the world” if it were to gain power. The Assam chief minister stated, “I am disappointed and sorry that you didn’t have such a desire when the people of Assam were suffering natural calamities like floods,” in response to news that Kejriwal is open to visiting this northeastern state.
The BJP leader continued, “And sure, your deputy chief minister @msisodia ji from Assam has already received an invitation.”
Sarma was ostensibly alluding to Manish Sisodia’s summons to appear before a local court here on September 29 in connection with a criminal defamation action brought by the Assam chief minister against the Delhi deputy chief minister.