Rahul Gandhi Under Fire As Himanta Shares Video Of DKS Collar-Pulling Incident

October 13, 2026

New Delhi : Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday targeted Rahul Gandhi over a video showing the Congress leader pulling Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar by the collar during an opposition march in New Delhi. Himanta invoked his own fallout with Rahul Gandhi in 2015, when he was in the Congress, suggesting that he had refused to tolerate what he considered humiliation.

Himanta also took aim at the political image of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. “‘Reinvention’ can’t hide arrogance. Change the mask all you like; the face beneath stays the same,” Himanta wrote on X. The Assam Chief Minister’s remarks came as the video offered Rahul Gandhi’s political opponents an opportunity to target him over his treatment of a senior Congress leader and the CM of Karnataka.

In 2015, I refused to swallow humiliation, as a proud Assamese. God was kind to me. The Chief Minister of Karnataka is not just an individual. He is a constitutional office, and the face of a State with a glorious history, a rich culture and deep pride. Will he bow to this public humiliation? “Reinvention” can’t hide arrogance. Change the mask all you like; the face beneath stays the same.
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 13, 2026

Amid a large crowd of Congress workers, DKS was seen making his way towards the frontline, where Rahul Gandhi was marching alongside AISA chief Neha Bora and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. As the Karnataka CM tried to march ahead from the LoP’s right side, Rahul Gandhi appeared to pull him backwards by the collar of his kurta. DKS seemingly lost his balance and was pushed further back by Rahul Gandhi’s security personnel.

Opposition leaders of several parties and civil society bodies sought to submit a memorandum against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The march was followed by an attempt by the opposition leaders to meet the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, who declined to meet the delegation. Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the JNU’s Neha Bora, workers from the Youth Congress and that of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).