'I feel dogs have a higher value in Congress party than humans': Himanta hits back at Kharge

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said in Ahmedabad that dogs have a higher value in the Congress party in comparison to humans. Sarma's comment came as a reaction to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's tea remark. Earlier on Sunday, Kharge raked up a controversy with his remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kharge, while addressing a public rally at Dediapada in the tribal-dominated Narmada district of poll-bound Gujarat, said, "A person like you (PM Modi) claims to be poor. I am also poor, I am one of the untouchables. People drank your tea, nobody would've had my tea." "Then you say that you are poor and somebody abuses you. If you say it for sympathy, then people have become smarter now. If you lie once or twice, people will hear but how many times will you lie? He's the leader of lies..," Kharge added.

Earlier on Monday, Sarma told ANI, "Mallikarjun Kharge said, no one has tea with me. So maybe Rahul Gandhi doesn't have tea with Kharge ji and Congress follows such practices. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi should tweet a backdated picture in which he could be seen having tea with Mallikarjun Kharge." "What I feel is that dogs have a higher value in the Congress party in comparison to humans. So Mallikarjun Kharge's comment that no one has tea with me, may be partially correct," Sarma added.

The counting of votes for Gujarat will take place on December 8.

Sarma had last week claimed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi looks like "Saddam Hussein", the former Iraqi dictator, and it would have been better had he turned his appearance like Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi has been seen sporting a beard during the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, a mass contact initiative of the Congress.

During a public rally in Ahmedabad Sarma said, "I just saw that his looks have also changed. I said in a TV interview a few days back that there is nothing wrong with his new look. But if you have to change the looks, at least make it like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel or even Jawaharlal Nehru will do. It is better if it looks like Gandhiji. But why is your face turning into Saddam Hussein?"
 

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