Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that he was not aware of Jignesh Mevani's identity, hours after the MLA, arrested over a purported tweet, was brought to the northeastern state from Gujarat. Talking to the media today, he said that vendetta politics cannot be done if he doesn't know who the person is.
"I'm not aware of the specifics of the case. Who will do vendetta politics when I don't know him? There will be enough evidence in Congress ruling states where things (tweets) have been taken seriously." he said.
The state Congress unit, however, smelt a conspiracy behind the arrest and rushed legal experts to the aid of the apprehended Dalit leader, who recently pledged his support to the grand old party.
Mevani was apprehended from Palanpur town in Gujarat on Wednesday night after an FIR under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act was filed in Kokrajhar Police Station. He was flown to Guwahati from Gujarat on Thursday morning and then taken to Korajhar by road.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Borah, criticising the police action, alleged that it smacked of conspiracy.
While the police did not specify the reason behind his arrest, Mevani's close aide cited a document shared by the Assam police and claimed that the legislator was held over his tweet on Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.
Mevani had won as an independent MLA from Vadgam (SC) seat of Banaskantha in 2017 through Congress support. Though he is "ideologically" with the Congress at present, he has not joined the opposition party officially.
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