Show intelligence report, BJP says on Rahul's Satra row

BJP's Assam unit leader Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday dared Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to make public the "intelligence report" that said RSS and BJP workers may try to create an "unsavoury situation" during Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's visit to a Satra, a Vaishnavite monastery, in Barpeta.

Gogoi and other Congress leaders claimed that there were intelligence reports about the RSS and the BJP's plan to incite a section of the people during Gandhi's visit.

"The chief minister must make the intelligence report public. It is a deliberate attempt on the part of Rahul Gandhi to defame the people of Assam," Sarma said at a press conference in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Gandhi on Monday also claimed that he was stopped by some women from entering the Satra during his visit to Barpeta on Saturday. He, however, visited the Satra after returning from a public rally.

"Had there been involvement of the RSS and BJP in opposing his visit, how could he visited the Satra in the evening, where he was accorded a royal treatment," asked Sarma, who was earlier the health minister in the Gogoi cabinet.

On women stopping Gandhi from enetering the Satra, Sarma said Gandhi was about 30 metres from the main gate of the Satra. "So there is no question of women stopping him from entering."

He also dared Gandhi to prove his allegation by providing video footage or apologise to the people of Assam.

"Assam Congress leaders are now telling 100 lies to cover up one lie of Rahul Gandhi," Sarma said.

He also alleged that the Congress had "deliberately chosen" Medhirtary -- a minority dominated area where people had opposed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) updation process -- as the party wanted to secure its minority vote bank.