This Article is From Aug 29, 2022

"Can We Have 5 Capitals Of India?": Why Assam Chief Minister Proposed This

Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed the process of "mainstreaming" of Northeast began in 2014 and the region has been progressing at an unrelenting pace since then.

'Can We Have 5 Capitals Of India?': Why Assam Chief Minister Proposed This

Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arvind Kejriwal have been involved in a Twitter exchange since last week. (File)

Guwahati:

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday proposed five national capitals, one for each zone, to end regional disparity in the country.

The senior BJP leader, in a series of tweets, continued his tirade against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, with whom he has been engaged in a war of words on Twitter.

"Having been engaged in a dialogue with Delhi CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal, who's by now in habit of mocking at other states, I'm of the view that we should work on curing the disease of disparity, and not mock poor states. Can we have 5 Capitals of India, one in every zone?" Mr Sarma tweeted.

"This will ensure, govts like Delhi do not have huge wealth at their disposal vis a vis North East and states from East. And of course what we've been doing in health, education, communication with blessings of our PM Shri @narendramodi Ji was unheard of in last 75 years," he said in another Twitter post.

He claimed the process of "mainstreaming" of Northeast began in 2014 and the region has been progressing at an unrelenting pace since then.

"Finally, after seven decades of denial & negligence, process of mainstreaming of the North East started in 2014 by Hon PM, and the pace of progress is unrelenting. North East does not need sympathy & ridicule, we need what's due to us - respect, resources and regeneration," he tweeted.

Mr Sarma and Mr Kejriwal have been engaged in a Twitter war since last week, which began when the Delhi CM criticised the Assam government's decision to amalgamate schools which will lead to the closure of several educational institutions.

The Assam CM retaliated saying Mr Kejriwal, as usual, commented without doing his homework and that he was ignorant about the good work done by the Assam government since Sarma was the state education minister.

The AAP leader replied by saying he would like to visit Assam to see for himself the "good work" done by the state government, to which Sarma mockingly said that an "invitation" has already been sent to Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, referring to a summons issued to him by a local court over a defamation case filed by Mr Sarma.

The Assam chief minister had on Sunday alleged that his Delhi counterpart is comparing the national capital with smaller cities in Assam and the Northeast to hide his failure in fulfilling his promise to transform Delhi into a London or Paris.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

.