Assam Elections 2016: Confident I'm coming back, says Tarun Gogoi

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday held his last press meet in the first leg of the Assam polls in Jorhat, a few kilometres away from his constituency Titabor. "I started my political journey from here. I was in the student organisations here, and I decided to end my first campaign here," said an emotional Gogoi. 

Gogoi, who is confident of winning for a record fourth time, said that the need for a coalition with the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF or the Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland People's Front (BPF) does not arise. "The 'if' arises only when I lose the elections. I'm confident that I'm coming back," he said. 

When asked whether he missed his former aide, strongman Himanta Biswa Sharma, who has now joined the BJP, Gogoi said that he did not. "Himanta once said, 'Modi is a murderer', and today he stands with him. What credibility does Himanta have left," said Gogoi. "Himanta is a betrayer, a fair weather friend. I don't miss betrayers," he said. 

While speaking of his infrastructural achievements in the last 15 years, Gogoi was asked why certain hospitals lacked neurosurgical facilities. Gogoi then, in his trademark style of dismissal, said, "Baad diya hey (Leave it!), the amount of overall development cannot be ignored. We'll take time to get full development," he said.