'Deepest Apologies To Congress': Himanta Biswa Sarma Jabs; 'You Have Won One Seat, Not ZERO'

Congress's Abhijit Wanjarri defeated the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale to retain the Nagpur seat which is the home city of the RSS headquarters.

Advertisement
Read Time: 2 mins
BJP leaders had mocked the party a day earlier for winning 'zero' seats in the council polls.
NDTV

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken a fresh dig at Congress after it won the Nagpur Graduates' seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

BJP leaders had mocked the party a day earlier for winning "zero" seats in the council polls.

"My deepest apologies to Congress! Yes, you have won ONE seat, not ZERO," Sarma wrote on X on Thursday, adding a laughing emoji. 

Advertisement

It quote-posted his own message from Wednesday evening, which carried a meme of a lorry hauling a giant tube of Burnol, a burn ointment. "Burn is so big that one tube won't work," he wrote.

That post was itself a response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Wednesday, Modi had pointed out that elections to 28 Legislative Council seats across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka were held using ballot papers. "Guess how many seats Congress won?" he asked.

Advertisement

ALSO READ | Who Is Abhijit Wanjarri? Setback To BJP In Nagpur As Congress Wins MLC Seat

The party had not won any of the seats declared by then. In Karnataka, where Congress is in power, the BJP took three seats and the JD(S) one. Counting was still under way in Nagpur.

Advertisement

The taunt was aimed at Congress's campaign for a return to paper ballots, which it has pushed amid its criticism of electronic voting machines. BJP leaders, including J P Nadda, said the result showed the problem was never EVMs.

Congress hit back on Wednesday, challenging Modi to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly elections on ballot papers if he was confident EVMs had no bearing on results.

ALSO READ | NDA Dominates MLC Elections As PM Modi Asks 'Guess How Many Seats Congress Won?'

The Nagpur result came on Thursday. Congress's Abhijit Wanjarri defeated the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale to retain the seat. Nagpur is the home city of the RSS headquarters, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

The BJP had held the seat for nearly six decades until Vanjari won it in 2020. The win meant Congress was no longer at zero, and Sarma's post conceded that while keeping up the jibe.

Advertisement

For the BJP, the tally was meant to undercut Congress's EVM allegations. For Congress, the Nagpur win offers a counter.

Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.


Loading...