New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI) The Congress on Sunday came out strongly in support of its MP Gaurav Gogoi after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posed questions to him about his alleged Pakistan links, saying the BJP leader has crossed all limits of decency by using a fragile border situation to settle domestic political scores.

The opposition party dismissed Sarma's allegations as baseless and asserted that Gogoi is an honest leader who is taking on the might of a "police state".

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Sarma and Gogoi traded barbs on social media, bringing each other's families into the spat.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the Assam CM's "pathetic, below the belt comments" about Gogoi prove that he is unfit to be in public life.

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"He (Sarma) is making totally baseless attacks on Gaurav Gogoi's family, questioning their loyalty and diverting attention from the scathing corruption allegations that he must answer," Venugopal said.

Today, unity against Pakistan is the need of the hour, he stressed.

"By frivolously using the Pakistan bogie against an upright public figure like Sh. Gogoi, who has been at the forefront of the attack against the CM, he is only emboldening our rivals as well as confirming that he has no credible response to the mounting evidence of widespread corruption against him," Venugopal said.

Gogoi is an honest leader who is taking on the might of a "police state" and the Congress steadfastly stands by him, he said in a post on X.

Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also slammed Sarma for making allegations against Gogoi.

"One has seen several shameless people in politics, especially in the BJP. Chief Minister of Assam has crossed all limits of decency by using a fragile border situation to settle domestic political scores," Khera said on X.

Gogoi does not need any certificate of patriotism from a corrupt man, he said.

"Sarma has a lot to hide and Gaurav has a lot to expose," Khera added.

Sarma launched the tirade against Gogoi by posing three questions on X to the Congress MP, who retorted with a similar number of queries.

Without naming anyone in his first post, Sarma asked the Congress MP whether he stayed in Pakistan for 15 days and if his wife gets a salary from a Pakistani NGO.

"Questions for the Hon'ble Member of Parliament from the Congress Party: 1. Did you visit Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days? If so, could you kindly clarify the purpose of your visit?" he said.

The CM also asked whether it is true that the MP's wife "continues to receive a salary from a Pakistan-based NGO while residing and working in India".

"If so, may we ask why a Pakistan-based organisation is paying a salary for activities conducted in India?" Sarma said.

He also asked about the citizenship status of the parliamentarian's wife and two children.

"Are they Indian citizens, or do they hold the citizenship of any other country? Many more questions will follow," he added.

Sharing Sarma's post, Gogoi countered the allegations with three questions from his end.

He said, "Questions for the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam: 1) Will you resign if you fail to prove your allegations against me and my wife being agents of an enemy country? 2) Will you take questions on your own children and wife?"

He also asked whether the state police would arrest those linked to the coal mafia who are ravaging the hills of Assam and making undeclared money worth crores of rupees.

It was an apparent reference to the Enforcement Directorate's findings that illegal rat-hole quarrying was rampant in Meghalaya and a syndicate with people from both states ensured that trucks containing illegal coal cleared the borders of Meghalaya and entered into Assam. Gogoi posted about this issue on X on Saturday.

Waiting for the SIT report to be submitted, Gogoi further said in his post with the three questions, though he did not clarify which investigation he was referring to.

In February, the state government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who is claimed to have links with Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in India's internal affairs.

Responding to Gogoi's post, Sarma said he or his family had no connection with Pakistan and that sufficient materials will be put in public domain in the coming days to expose the Congress MP's links with the neighbouring nation.

Gogoi, retorting again on X, said none of his questions had been answered and repeated the same three queries.

At the end of the questions, he said, "Wait for 2026", a reference to the Assam assembly elections due next year.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)