GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said he never "undermined national interests" and always discharged his duties keeping them over and above everything else.
Gogoi was reacting to Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju's reported statement describing Gogoi's humanitarian gesture facilitating ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah's visit to his ailing mother as "undermining national interests".
"I know the national interests and I just gave an option to facilitate an ailing mother's reunion with her son, by keeping national interest on the top," Gogoi said in a statement here last night.
"I have all along been fighting the anti-national forces and I have succeeded to a great extent in containing these forces. National interest all along has been a priority and utmost importance to me, I don't want anybody's advice on it," he observed.
He said that he had made a statement that if Paresh Baruah wanted to visit his ailing mother, the government might consider it on humanitarian ground and this should not be construed as a 'safe passage' to Baruah.