Attacks on Gogoi aimed at diverting attention from Sarma's monumental corruption: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday said the "worse than atrocious" personal attacks by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on its Lok Sabha deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi are meant to divert people's attention from the BJP leader's "monumental corruption and misdeeds".

Gogoi slammed Sarma for alleging the Congress MP from Jorhat has Pakistani links and questioned the chief minister's mental state due to issues on the home front. Assembly elections in Assam are due next year.

In a series of posts on X, Gogoi said Sarma's recent remarks were "insane and nonsense" and that he was behaving like an "IT cell troll" without presenting facts.

Congress general secretary in charge communications Jairam Ramesh slammed Sarma for his allegations.

"The personal attacks on my colleague Gaurav Gogoi being continued by the Assam CM are worse than atrocious. Mr HBS is simply unable to come to grips with the fact that a year back the people of Jorhat voted resoundingly in favour of Gaurav Gogoi and totally rejected the campaign managed by the Assam CM and his colleagues," he said.

"These attacks are also meant to divert attention away from the Assam CM's own monumental corruption and misdeeds. He knows well that he is the outgoing CM of Assam and hence his increasing desperation," Ramesh said.

Earlier in the day, Gogoi targeted Sarma to say, "For some reason best known to him I have been on his radar since my entry into Assam. He has made many baseless remarks about me in the past 13 years. The most recent one borders on insanity and the absurd." He expressed concern over the chief minister's health.

"It is often said that when there is something bothering at home, it reflects in the mental state of the person. We will ensure that after 2026 he gets some rest," Gogoi said.