BJP a 'khichidi' party: Assam CM Tarun Gogoi

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said BJP is a "khichidi" party with members from all other parties such as Congress, AGP and BPF and extremists.

"How can they win and run a government with so much of khichidi? They are taking people from everywhere -- AGP, BPF and extremists," Gogoi told reporters outside the Assam Assembly.

"They have also taken those from Congress who are just opportunist and condemned people. In fact, BJP has become a party of condemned people," he said.

Gogoi said Congress will fight the forthcoming Assembly poll on its own and win with full majority.

Asked if former Congress Minister and now a BJP leader, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is an asset or liability, Gogoi alleged: "Himanta is a big asset for them. He knows all the tricks. He has money power and he knows the tricks to manipulate with parties and extremists."

Gogoi termed as "baseless wild allegation" Sarma's criticism that the Chief Minister had influenced the Assembly Speaker to suspend 12 MLAs yesterday.

"In fact, I requested the Speaker through the Parliamentary Affairs Minister that suspension order of five BJP MLAs be reviewed. And now they are blaming me...When did I get time to influence the Speaker? It was happening in front of everyone," Gogoi said.

On the first day of the Winter Session yesterday, five BJP MLAs and seven rebel Congress members, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party, were suspended from the Assembly for the entire Session for disobeying the Speaker's ruling and creating noisy scene in the well of the House.