‘Super flop presser’: Gogoi counters Himanta’s claims on wife’s Pakistan links

Guwahati: Congress Assam president and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday strongly rejected Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s allegations involving his wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, calling the CM’s press conference a “super flop” and politically motivated.

Taking to X, Gogoi said journalists were made to sit through what he described as the “most flop press conference of the century,” adding that the claims lacked substance. He contrasted the BJP government’s allegations with the Congress-led Samay Parivartan Yatra, which he said was exposing corruption and land issues involving the ruling establishment in Assam.

"I pity the journalists from Delhi and Assam who had to suffer the most flop press conference of the century. This was worse than a C grade cinema. Most mindless and bogus points offered by the so called political shrewd Chief Minister. This #SuperFlop is in contrast to our #XomoyParivartanYatra which has been a hit in uncovering the 12,000 bighas of land occupied by the Chief Minister and his family members," the Congress MP wrote.

Earlier today, Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi over his wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi's, alleged links to Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, stating that the Congress leader attempted to legitimise the neighbouring country.

Addressing a press conference here today, Sarma claimed that Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi worked in Pakistan from March 18, 2011, to March 17, 2012, and her family had close ties with Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.

He claimed that Ali Tauqeer Sheikh was allowed to visit India 13 times under the UPA government.

The Assam CM said, "Interesting thing is, during the Congress period, era of UPA, Ali Tauqeer Sheikh was allowed to visit India 13 times. He criticised India in all forums, but he was allowed to visit India 13 times. All visits took place when Dr Manmohan Singh was the PM of India, and Elizabeth and Gaurav were closely connected to the power structure of India. All visas were issued during the Congress rule. Once PM Modi came to power, he stopped visiting India. He also brought high-level Pakistani officials along with him during the visits to India. Elizabeth came to Pakistan from America in 2011. She was transferred to India but continued to be paid by Ali Tauqeer."

Alleging a link between Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi and Pakistani climate activist Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, he claimed that she used to pass on the Centre's climate action reports to Sheikh.

"The most important and damaging thing that Ali Tauqeer was doing through Elizabeth. She used to gather various activities surrounding India, including climate actions, the Indian government's response to climate, and how things can be done. She used to give reports to Ali Tauqeer. On August 5, 2014 sent a report to him. The report is very important. She got information from IB in reference to a secret IB report. That we have to adopt a new strategy - low risk, low visibility, that after PM Modi came to power, the climate action group will not have a field day, so we have to change the strategy. She said that now we have to change strategy, we have to bypass the Central government for our activity in India," he said.

"He used to tag Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi on tweets. When the investigation began, he suddenly deleted all his tweets. Normally, a person from Pakistan should not fear the investigation by Assam Police because we cannot reach him. But in order to protect someone, he deleted all his tweets...He closed the Twitter account. Why? Obviously, to protect someone in Assam, in India, because the Assam Police, in a way, cannot reach Ali Tauqeer. So, you can see the live connection," Sarma added.

On Saturday, Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the transfer of the SIT probe to a central agency.

ANI