Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi took charge as the new Assam Congress president on Tuesday.
The lawmaker, who represents Jorhat in the Parliament, and is also a deputy leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, was appointed the chief of party’s Assam unit last week.
Gogoi, who has recently been in the line of fire of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, took the Congress’s baton in the state from Bhupen Kumar Borah just ahead Assembly elections scheduled in 2026. Borah led the Assam Pradesh Congress for almost four years.
Since February, Sarma has been accusing Gogoi of maintaining links with Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Days after being appointed as the Assam Congress president, Gogoi last Wednesday responded to the allegations about his visit to Pakistan, saying he had gone there in 2013 and that it was related to his wife’s professional work.
Speaking to the media at the Congress office in Delhi, Gogoi said, “About 14-15 years ago, my wife, a well-known public policy expert, worked on an international project in South Asia focusing on climate change. She spent one year in Pakistan before returning to India around 2012-13… she took a job in India in 2015.”
“Around 2013, I remember going with her once. This subject is being used to defame me by the ruling party. This is because their daily bread is defaming someone. With this subject, they are making a C-grade cinema, which they have announced to release on September 10. This is going to prove a flop. The people of Assam know,” said Gogoi.
