GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has denied allegations of him taking help from Kuki militant groups to secure wins for the BJP during the 2017 Manipur assembly elections and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In fact Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarmahas termed the allegations against him as “baseless and devoid of merit”.
“Some baseless allegations have been levelled in recent social media posts on understanding with some UG (underground) leaders of Manipur,” said Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“It is reiterated that there is no engagement with any such elements,” the Assam chief minister stated in a statement.
It may be mentioned here that a 2019 letter by the leader of one of the Kuki outfits under SoO to union home minister Amit Shah, claimed that two BJP leaders — Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Ram Madhav – had taken help of Kuki militant organisations to win the 2017 assembly elections in Manipur.
Notably, BJP had stormed to power in Manipur for the first time in 2017.
The letter was one of the annexures attached along with an affidavit filed by SS Haokip, chairman of the United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF), in an NIA court on June 8, 2023.
UKLF is one of the armed Kuki organisations under suspension of operations (SoO).
In the letter, the UKLF leader alleged that, in 2017, his organization and another Kuki outfit United People Front (UPF) got BJP candidates elected, as per an ‘agreement’ with Ram Madhav and Himanta Biswa Sarma.