Gaurav in Parl panel with Philippnines 'by mistake', should have been in one with Pak: Himanta

Guwahati, Feb 24 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday maintained that Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi should have been assigned to an 'India-Pakistan' group rather than the parliamentary friendship panel with Philippines, in an apparent reference to his allegation of the opposition leader being a "Pakistani agent".

The state Congress, on the other hand, pointed that nomination of its president as the head of the 'India-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group' comes at a time when the CM is "running a malicious campaign" against Gogoi, a charge dismissed by him.

"He should have been given India-Pakistan group. By mistake he was given the India-Philippines group," Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of an official event at Mariani in Jorhat district, when asked about the appointment.

"It would have worked well," the chief minister added.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had on Monday constituted Parliamentary Friendship Groups with more than 60 countries, comprising various opposition members, with Gogoi, the Jorhat MP who is also the Congress' deputy leader in the lower house, named as the head of the panel for Philippines.

The state Congress, sharing the official letter in a post on X, said, "This comes at a time when the Assam Chief Minister is running a malicious campaign against our leader — even going so far as to call him a 'Pakistani agent' (an allegation that Himanta Biswa Sarma himself punctured during the 'historic' 8th February Super FLOP press conference)." "The people of Assam will give an appropriate answer to the chief minister in due course of time. Until then, the truth will continue to haunt him!" it added.

The CM and BJP have been alleging Pakistan links of Gogoi through his British wife Elizabeth Colburn, as the state gears up for Assembly elections.

The state government had also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe a case of alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was claimed to have links with Colburn, in India's internal affairs.

Based on its findings, Sarma had alleged in a press conference on February 8 that Gogoi, Colburn and Sheikh had a "deeper connection", and that information from the Intelligence Bureau was secretly passed on to the neighbouring nation.

The state Cabinet has decided to refer the case and SIT report to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further investigation.

Gogoi had dismissed the allegations of his Pakistani connections as "most mindless and bogus", and dubbed the press conference, where Sarma made the allegations, "worse than C-grade cinema", which was a "super flop". PTI SSG SSG RG