Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday appeared before a court in connection with a defamation suit filed against him by his former lieutenant and present BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma and said criticism was fair in politics.

Sarma had slammed a defamation suit worth Rs 100 crore in the court of the Civil Judge No 1 after Gogoi reportedly said that he (Sarma) was an accused in the Saradha and Louis Berger scandals. “I have never been named an accused as alleged,” Sarma asserted.