Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has threatened to file civil and criminal defamation suits against Congress leaders after the party on Wednesday launched a website and a pamphlet accusing the CM of corruption, misuse of power, and disrespect to cultural icons.
The website titled “Who Is HBS”, which seeks information related to Sarma’s assets, became “temporarily down” soon after its launch.
Addressing a conference in Guwahati, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi said, “Besides the website, we have launched a pamphlet highlighting the lies and abuse of power by CM Sarma. In the coming days, we will distribute this among the public across Assam in villages and towns.”
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Gogoi said that members of the public would be able to submit details of corruption by the CM and his family members, or call a dedicated number where they can lodge details or get information on the alleged misdeeds.
“As per the information we have collected till now, we have gathered that Sarma and his family members own around 12,000 bighas (around 4,000 acres) of land. We will soon disclose how they manipulated rules and changed agricultural land to industrial land,” Gogoi said.
{{/usCountry}}“As per the information we have collected till now, we have gathered that Sarma and his family members own around 12,000 bighas (around 4,000 acres) of land. We will soon disclose how they manipulated rules and changed agricultural land to industrial land,” Gogoi said.
{{/usCountry}}He said that if the Congress comes to power, it will probe how Sarma and his family managed to acquire so much land, take it back, and distribute it among the landless and poor.
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Debabrata Saikia said that the website and pamphlet are based on information collected from different sources and would be distributed among the public in the coming days to expose the CM.
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Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is a special observer for Assam, also levelled similar allegations against Sarma.
Congress in-charge for Assam Jitendra Singh said, “Sarma is someone who has sold and divided Assam... Besides 12,000 bighas of land, his family owns seventeen companies. He has never been a friend of anyone. Sarma ditched his political gurus, former (Congress) chief ministers Hiteswar Saikia and Tarun Gogoi, and even the previous BJP chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal... he takes commission from all projects in the state and all big contracts are given to 4-5 contractors close to him.”
Singh added that the CM faced probes in several cases before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2015.
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CM Sarma termed the allegations “false and malicious” and threatened to file civil and criminal defamation suits against the Congress leaders.
“I am initiating civil and criminal defamation proceedings on February 9 against Jitendra Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, Gaurav Gogoi and Debabrata Saikia for making false, malicious and defamatory statements against me in today’s press conference. The era of hit-and-run politics is over. If they have even an ounce of courage or evidence, let them prove every allegation before a court of law. I will not be intimidated by propaganda, coordinated slander, or political theatrics of so called slaves of Gandhi family,” CM Sarma posted on X.