Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi releases a booklet at Rajiv Bhawan on Saturday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, March 28: Unleashing a verbal volley against the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today questioned his role in the secret killings that rocked the state during the AGP-led regime from 1998 to 2001.

“What did he do to stop the killings? Advani was the Union home minister in the NDA-led government when a series of killings took place. Wasn’t it his duty to find out what was happening in the state and stop the killings?” Gogoi asked while releasing a booklet, Assam’s Development, on the achievements of his government at Rajiv Bhawan here.

“The secret killings took place with the connivance of the government. Killings have taken place during my time but not with the connivance of the government,” Gogoi said, heaping scorn on the BJP stalwart for allegedly indulging in politics of diversions and fanning emotion during his two-day campaign in Assam.

“I do not know what was his role but it was his duty to stop the series of killings; (it is) the home ministry’s duty to stop it. How can he be so oblivious to what was happening in the state! If anything happens now, like the killing of the editor, I get calls from the Prime Minister and the home minister,” he added.

“Advani has no other issue except infiltration but what did he do when the NDA was in power? What did the AGP do when it was in power? He only deals with emotive issues and indulges in divisive and diversionary politics,” Gogoi said.

“I have taken more initiative to resolve the influx problem than the AGP and the BJP. It is of no use shedding crocodile tears now. How many times did he visit Assam when he was in power?” Gogoi asked, adding that the Congress accorded top priority to economic development and resolving the unemployment problem.

Gogoi flayed the AGP-BJP combine for fielding a candidate who has been chargesheeted in a murder case. “It is for them to reveal his name,” he added.

The combine had said a bribery case should be lodged against Gogoi for taking ‘forced’ donations from the tea industry. It said the Congress is being “run” by one family group. In Guwahati, Harendra Pratap, one of the BJP’s election in-charge for Assam, said the party was looking forward to the Election Commission publishing the names of the tea garden owners who had donated funds to the Assam unit of the Congress.