Rahul will win in Pakistan, it’s ‘balle balle’ Modi in India, claims Himanta Sarma

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will win in Pakistan if elections are held there but in India, victory will be of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sarma had lashed out at Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday as well, calling them “irrelevant” in Assam and “past the expiry date”.

“Rahul Gandhi is very popular in Pakistan and if elections are held there and he contests those, he will win by a huge margin, there is no doubt about it,” Sarma said on the sidelines of a rally in Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency, when asked for his reaction on a former Pakistani minister praising the Congress leader.

“We lift our hands in surrender that we cannot match Rahul Gandhi in Pakistan and he will definitely win there,” the CM said, sarcastically.

A former minister in Imran Khan’s cabinet in Pakistan, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, had shared a video featuring Gandhi on his social media handle on Thursday and praised him, drawing sharp criticism from the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sarma maintained that nothing will happen in India as desired by Pakistan, and rather, “the opposite will happen in Bharat”.

“In Bharat, it’s ‘balle balle’ Narendra Modi,” Sarma said, in reply to a question on Gandhi’s winning chances in the two Lok Sabha seats he is contesting.

Gandhi, who is already seeking to retain the Wayanad constituency in Kerala, on Friday also filed his nomination papers from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli, a traditional Congress bastion held by his mother Sonia Gandhi in the outgoing Lok Sabha.