Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party's Assam in-charge Pramod Mahajan for the recent exodus of Bangladeshi workers from certain parts of the state.

At least 500 suspected Bangaldeshi nationals working on brick kilns and pulling rickshaws in Dibrugarh, upper Assam, left last week after a local nationalist group circulated leaflets and SMSes urging people not to employ them.

Talking to media persons in Guwahati on Thursday, Gogoi said the brain behind the SMS threat was the RSS.

He charged the BJP with trying to launch another Godhra in Assam.

The chief minister's accusation has lent a political tint to the issue of Bangladeshi residents in the state, say observers.

Gogoi went to the extent of saying that BJP's state chief Pramod Mahajan's Assam tours would be monitored by the government.

He also rubbished a recent report by Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh that said at least 6,000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every day.

Gogoi told Singh to prove his statement with factual evidence.