Assam Chief Minister and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Himanta Biswa Sarma has backed the saffron party's claim against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that the latter fed a worker a “dog biscuit” during Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Weeks after Rahul Gandhi and Himanta Biswa Sarma traded barbs and engaged in political mudslinging, the Assam CM trained his guns through a video shared by Congress on microblogging platform X.
The Congress captioned the post “a short break for a furry friend” and shared a video showing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking for a packet of biscuits, which he later offers to a dog.
Notably, the video shared by the Congress of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra does not show Rahul Gandhi offering the biscuit, which was rejected by the dog, to a Congress worker.
Watch the video here
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya later shared a video on X of Rahul Gandhi 'treating' the biscuit to the person who brought the dog to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. However, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that Rahul Gandhi was mistreating his supporters.
“A few days ago, Congress leader Kharge ji compared the party operatives to dogs and here Rahul Gandhi is feeding biscuits to a dog during his visit and when the dog did not eat, he fed the same biscuits to his employee.” Malviya wrote on X.
“No 'no' (justice) for Congress karyakartas (party workers)? Rejected dog biscuits are fed karyakartas by Rahul Gandhi! Elitist mentality of the first family,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told Rahul Gandhi.
(Note: Rahul Gandhi was not seen “feeding” the biscuit to the man in the video. It is just a claim by BJP. Mint is only reporting a claim, does not support what was claimed by BJP)
However, some users have claimed that the puppy belonged to the supporter Rahul Gandhi was speaking to and that the Congress leaders had given him the biscuits to feed the puppy later.
Himanta Biswa Sarma was drawn into the conversation through social media because of his story from the days when the Assam CM was part of the Congress. Himanta Biswa Sarma claims that he and other senior Congress leaders had earlier visited Rahul Gandhi for a meeting. During the meeting, he says, Rahul Gandhi's dog Pidi ate biscuits from a plate. The Congress leaders were then presented with cookies from the same plate.