War of words: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma again denies Gaurav Gogoi’s claim on alleged land scam

Guwahati :The spat on X (formerly Twitter) between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi continued on Wednesday with the latter quoting the Union Ministry of Food Processing website and accusing Sarma’s wife in an alleged land scam.

Taking to X, Gogoi wrote “The Ministry of Food Processing website clearly shows the name of the person and the company she is associated with. The Rs 10 crore government grant has also been approved. Please report to the Union Minister if their website has been hacked”. He wrote after Sarma earlier denied the land scam claim in which his wife’s company is alleged to be involved.

However, the Assam CM quickly replied to the Congress leader on X by a post that mentioned, “I would like to reiterate again with full responsibility that my wife and the company she is associated with have not taken or received any subsidies from the Government of India.”

Allegations surfaced that the Chief Minister’s wife Riniki Bhuinya Sharma bought 50 bighas 2 kata of agricultural land in Kaliabor Dargaji village in Nagaon district after Sarma became the CM two years ago.

Citing a RTI report, it was claimed that as per the ceiling law, no one can own more than 49.5 bigha of agricultural land and therefore, after the Chief Minister's wife bought the land, its class was changed to industrial land.

It was also alleged that Riniki’s company ‘Pride East Entertainment’ also received government assistance of Rs 10 crore from the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana to set up a food processing enterprise there.