Guwahati, Feb 25: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday commented that Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, currently head of the India-Philippines parliamentary friendship group, should have been assigned to the India-Pakistan group instead. The remark came on the sidelines of an event in Mariani, Jorhat district.

Sarma said, “He should have been given the India-Pakistan group. By mistake, he was given the India-Philippines group. It would have worked well.”

The comment follows Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s Monday notification constituting parliamentary friendship groups with over 60 countries, naming Gogoi the Jorhat MP and Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha as head of the India-Philippines panel.

Responding to Sarma, the Assam Congress shared the official notification on X, accusing the Chief Minister of a “malicious campaign” against Gogoi. The party said, “The people of Assam will give an appropriate answer to the chief minister in due course.”

The BJP and Sarma have previously alleged Gogoi has Pakistan links through his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn, amid Assembly election speculation. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe claims of interference by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, associated with Colburn. Sarma cited the SIT report and Intelligence Bureau inputs earlier this month to claim a “deeper connection” among Gogoi, Colburn, and Sheikh.

Gogoi dismissed the allegations as “mindless and bogus,” describing Sarma’s press conference as “worse than C-grade cinema” and a “super flop.”