Gaurav Gogoi dares Himanta Biswa Sarma: 'Apologise on Sept 10 or face facts on Sept 11'

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Monday said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will have to apologise on September 10, a deadline fixed by the BJP leader to present evidence of the opposition leader and his British wife's alleged links with the Pakistani spy agency ISI.

Visiting the Assam Assembly for the first time after taking charge as the state Congress chief, Gogoi witnessed the Special One-Day Session as a visitor from the Speaker's Gallery, which is just opposite the CM's seat.

After spending some time and meeting Speaker Biswajit Daimary at his chamber, the Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha came out and addressed the waiting media on the Assembly premises.

"Politics will continue inside and outside the Assembly. We will also answer inside and outside the Assembly," he told reporters when asked about Sarma's apparent reference to his family inside the House.

In an apparent jibe at Gogoi, the chief minister told the Assembly that the Congress does not value 'citizenship' as out of four family members of one of its leaders, three are foreigners.

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The Assam CM and the BJP have been attacking Gogoi over his wife's alleged connection with Pakistan's spy agency ISI. He had claimed that Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn had travelled 19 times between India and Pakistan.

Sarma has been claiming that the Assam government has documentary evidence to back up the allegation about Gogoi and his wife's close ties with Pakistan, and he will reveal everything publicly by September 10.
    
Asked about this deadline, Gogoi said, "He (Sarma) will have to apologise to the people on September 10. If he says something, we will respond on September 11."

There should be an atmosphere of peace in Assam and the Congress has a role to play in it, he added.

"Till next year's Assembly election, a lot of information about my family will be published on social media, especially by the BJP IT cell. The people will decide whether they will vote on my personal issues or how the Congress will solve the real issues affecting the public," Gogoi said.