Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma Takes Dig At Arvind Kejriwal

In a fresh salvo at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday claimed that the AAP chief was "comparing the national capital with smaller cities" after failing to fulfil his promise of giving the place a London- or Paris-like makeover.

Sarma, taking a swipe at Kejriwal, also pointed out that Delhi CM has "expressed his desire to visit Assam" only now, not when the state going through crises such as floods.

The two chief ministers had been engaging in verbal duels on Twitter over the last few days, each of them asking the other to visit their state and witness the development work undertaken there.

The spat started after Kejriwal, in response to a news item that claimed the Assam government closed 34 schools due to poor results, said shutting down the institutes was no solution.

Taking on the Delhi CM, Sarma wrote, "You came to power with a promise to make Delhi look like London and Paris, don't you remember @ArvindKejriwal ji?"

Implying that Kejriwal has failed to meet his poll promise, Sarma added, "When you could not do anything, then you started comparing #Delhi with smaller cities of Assam and Northeast!"

Sarma went on to claim that if BJP came to power in a city like Delhi, the saffron party will make it the "most prosperous city in the world”.

In another tweet over reports claiming that Kejriwal is willing to visit this northeastern state, the Assam CM wrote, "I am sad and sorry that you didn’t have such a desire when the people of Assam were battling natural calamities like floods!"

"And yes, invitation has already been sent to your deputy chief minister @msisodia ji from Assam," the BJP leader added.

Sarma was apparently making a reference to the summons sent by a local court here to Manish Sisodia, asking him to appear before it on September 29 in a criminal defamation case filed by the Assam chief minister against the Delhi deputy CM.

(With PTI inputs)