Guwahati, February 10 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Tuesday that Congress president Gaurav Gogoi's admission of visiting Rawalpindi without a visa during his 2013 trip to Pakistan proves that he was a "state guest" in the neighboring country.
Sarma claimed on Sunday that Gogoi had gone to Rawalpindi that year, although he had a visa only for Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad. The next day, the Congress leader said that the general passport, which was submitted to the Centre to obtain a diplomatic one after he became an MP in 2014, contains "all details" of his visit.
"Gogoi himself said that he went to Rawalpindi. And since he went without a visa, he must have gone in a car belonging to the Pakistani army or the police," Sarma said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official event in Bongaigaon.
"If he went without a visa, it means he was a state guest. He revealed this before I could, and that video clip is enough to be presented in court," the CM added.
Ahead of the Assembly elections, Sarma and Gogoi have been engaged in a verbal duel, with Sarma alleging that the Congress MP and his family have Pakistani links.
Gogoi, at a press conference here on Monday, had said that he visited Takshashila in Pakistan with his wife, with due permission, while on a 10-day trip to the neighboring country in December 2013. Takshashila is an ancient center of higher learning and a city near Rawalpindi.
Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Coulburn, was posted in Islamabad for a year in 2012, before shifting to New Delhi, and the couple's visit soon after their marriage was related to her work, the Congress leader claimed on Monday.
Sarma had demanded a "transparent explanation" from Gogoi over his Takshashila visit in Rawalpindi district.
Responding to the charge, Gogoi had claimed Sarma was "floundering and sinking in his own web of lies".
